Damning questions Whitman must be made to answer (re: 9/11 first responders now sick and dying(

Ny Daily News ^ | June 25, 2007 | Juan Gonzalez

[listenhillary]

Wouldn’t they be responsible for workers in unsafe working conditions?

[Cold Heart]

Total it, wash it off, put it on a truck and sell it some place far away, like, New Orleans.

[Ditter]

I am sure some NYers are sick from the toxins in the air. Some people are more sensitive to things like this than others. As for myself I am terribly sensitive to things that don’t even bother most people. I think I would already be dead if I had survived the 9/11 attack at close range and inhaled that junk.

[Eagle Eye]

Nope, empoloyers are.

OSHA cites employers who violate rules.

But OSHA now folds in under FEMA in disaster recovery and goes into “assistance” mode rather than compliance mode.

[Eagle Eye]

The problem is legally dealing with the asbestos (if any actual or suspected) residues.

[Cold Heart]

I realize the legal angle, I was certified to handle hazardous materials.
I have little doubt that some of these contaminated “totaled” cars were cleaned up and resold, just as the flood damaged and “totaled” vehicles from Katrina (thus the New Orleans reference) were shipped out and resold.

It would be interesting if a totaled vehicle that was sold from New York actually ended up in New Orleans and was secondly totaled and resold.

[Eagle Eye]

Entirely possible.

Car lots along the gulf coast lost a lot of brand new cars that got hit with storm surge.

I’m sure that someone along the line cleaned up some Ground Zero cars and resold them.

[One-Four-Five]

I think now is when it’s starting to come to a head. I’m surprised it’s taken this long.

I lived uptown on 9/11 but I’ve been around the corner from Ground Zero for well over two years now. There’s a great deal of rebuilding and reconstruction going on & sometimes one wonders whether or not properties being demolished that had been untouched since 9/11 are the healthiest places to be around...but we don’t have much choice but to walk by them every day. Two years ago a demolition company started to do some work on Greenwich St...only to be halted because there was a local activist whistleblower who had discovered that they had not gone through the proper channels to take down a building that, not could, but almost certainly would, be releasing debris trapped inside since 9/11 into the air.

The air monitoring devices are now outside the Deutsche Bank Building, but they’ve been in various locations in the vicinity of the rear of the American Stock Exchange & the Marriott Hotel ever since I’ve been here.

I don’t like the gotcha games or the partisan finger-pointing any more than anyone else does. I do remember that there was a controversy a few years ago where Whitman claimed she had no choice but to acquiesce to White House pressure in order to return as much normalcy as possible to the cleanup effort. I’m not much for conspiracy theories, but I’ve always wondered about this.

One of the reasons the first responders & subsequent demolition workers refused to wear protective gear was because they claimed it hindered their ability to get any work done, to an unacceptable degree.

So if you force them to wear that gear, then you are potentially placing a significant restriction to get the work done.

I doubt that the toxins on the site itself were that much more prevalent over the first few days than they would’ve been over the next several weeks: unless I’m wrong, I would think that each & every piece of debris removed freed up more and more dust into the air. And the fires burned, towards the northeast section of the site, at least until December. During the first few days, after the cloud (which enveloped lower Manhattan & hit the northwest part of Brooklyn) dispersed, I think it’s quite possible the gradual removal of debris released toxins into the air on an ongoing basis.

If Giuliani & Whitman are to be pitted by Democrats into a pissing match...ugh. But, I think a little accountability would be in order here. I think it’s entirely possible that work would’ve been unacceptably restricted by wearing the protective gear (not the paper masks, mind you), and from that a decision was made to allow the work to continue, even with knowledge of unacceptable levels of exposure to toxins. I think we can all understand the need to rebuild sooner rather than later, but people live around here, too. At some point it would’ve been prudent for this to be addressed, whether or not someone had to admit blame, which would have avoided this blame game led by...Congressional Democrats.

A few weeks ago, following the announcement that demolition of the Deutsche Bank Building was now progressing after so many false starts due to recurring discoveries of human remains, I walked past the closed-off portion of Washington St., and had to wait for a sanitation-type truck filled with debris to pass. And that smell that anyone around here will never forget? There it was. And it lingered.

When you smell that you almost care less about the blame game, and want to see someone nailed on this. One way or another, it seems, it could’ve & should’ve been handled just a bit differently.

[durasell]

This is going to be a massive scandal.

[cherish_the_cabin]

It was well known that the WTC had asbestos and those other contaminants in it. The WTC had been extensively studied as part of due diligence for financial transactions within the years leading up to 9/11. Numerous asbestos abatement and surveys had been performed in the buildings. Asbestos that was difficult to remove (i.e friable asbestos fireproofing in the elevator shafts) was left in place and being managed. The building owners certainly knew this, as well as countless consultants and contractors.

Nothing could have been done regarding the exposure that occurred when the buildings collapsed. Any exposure after that could have been prevented rather easily. Just a respirator and a couple cartridges. The other contaminants (PCB’s, dioxins, metals) are not usually of import as airborne contaminants. PCBs and dioxins will typically adhere to surfaces - they have an affinity for this. Metals certainly were volatized and were in the plume emanating from Ground Zero. They probably precipitated out of the air miles from the site, as well as coating surfaces all through and around the wreckage.

Relatively little protective equipment would have been required to safeguard the workers and responders. EPA could have had real time airborne test results for asbestos in minutes. Looks to me like EPA really dropped the ball.

[wagglebee]

As I said, workers should have been required to wear respiratory gear. I believe that OSHA requirements probably mandated it. Contrary to the hype, asbestos is HARMLESS until it is disturbed and it is also very safe to remove if done properly.

[SuziQ]

Can anyone imagine what might have happened if Christine Whitman had told those workers that it might be dangerous so she wasn't going to let anyone go near that site after the buildings fell? She would have been trampled in the rush of First Responders to get there to try to find any survivors. Now, at that point, any damage to those workers would already have been done, so what is the use of bringing this up now, if not as a political stick with which to beat someone?

So who expects to benefit, politically from this? Possibly Her Heinous, who wasn't anywhere to be seen in NYC just after the attacks. However Rudy Giuliani was VERY prominent, and as Mayor, was titular head of the city, so some of this stuff will be landing on him.