posted October 26, 2004 10:19 AM              

Report: Bush showed 'reckless disregard' after 9/11

By Graham Rayman
Staff Writer

August 18, 2004, 8:28 PM EDT

The Bush administration misled the public about the health hazards of the smoke and dust at Ground Zero, a new report charges.

The Sierra Club report blames the thousands of cases of long-term respiratory illness among New Yorkers on the White House, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for downplaying the health risks and shirking their regulatory oversight roles.

EPA officials, the report says, urged financial district workers to return to their jobs, repeatedly claiming the air was safe, using outdated testing gear and limited test results. The reassuring message didn't substantially change as the months dragged on, the report said.

At the same time, concerns were being raised by independent researchers.

The EPA's own researchers also noted concerns, but their studies never made it into the agency's public statements. The results were published only much later in scientific journals.

The result has been costly to local and federal governments, said Suzanne Mattei, the New York City Executive for the Sierra Club and the author of the report.

"The health care costs are significant, and there are many experienced first responders and others now on light duty, medical leave or retired because of lung problems," she said.

While the early focus was on asbestos, the more dangerous toxins were concrete dust and glass fibers -- the dangers of which were never highlighted to the public, the report concludes.

By Sept. 27, 2001, the government had test results showing the dust was caustic, but it never mentioned that in public statements, the report said. That data was not disclosed until December 2002 in a scientific journal, the report said.

Without performing a single test, the EPA already knew from many prior studies that the combination of open fires and demolition of buildings was by definition a health hazard, the report states.

"It's illegal in any state in the union," Mattei said. "It causes known health hazards. But instead of saying we need to clean to pre-contamination levels, they took a minimalist approach and used weak cleanup standards."

EPA officials yesterday issued a statement, saying, "The American public should see this report for what it is: a blatant attempt to use this tragedy for political gain."

posted October 26, 2004 12:25 PM            

quote:

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EPA officials yesterday issued a statement, saying, "The American public should see this report for what it is: a blatant attempt to use this tragedy for political gain."

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posted October 28, 2004 04:03 AM              

Biography:
Christie Whitman
Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency

Christie Whitman was sworn in as EPA Administrator on January 31, 2001. Prior to that, Whitman served as the 50th Governor of New Jersey.
In testimony before the U.S. Senate on January 17, Whitman said she believed environmental and economic goals go hand in hand and that she would continue her record of working to forge strong partnerships among citizens, government and business to produce measurable environmental results of cleaner air, water and land.

As governor of New Jersey, Whitman developed a strong environmental record, providing cleaner air, water and land than when she was first elected in November 1993. Under her environmental leadership, New Jersey's air became significantly cleaner. The number of days New Jersey violated the federal one-hour air quality standard for ground level ozone dropped from 45 in 1988 to four in 2000. The state is on target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels.

New Jersey's waterways, coasts and ocean waters also became significantly cleaner. Beach closings reached a record low and the state earned recognition by the Natural Resources Defense Council for instituting the most comprehensive beach monitoring system in the nation. The Governor won voter approval for a plan to break a longstanding impasse over dredging the state's ports that is both environmentally acceptable and economical. She established a new watershed management program. New Jersey now leads the nation in opening shellfish beds for harvesting.

As a preservationist, Governor Whitman won voter approval for the state's first stable funding source to preserve one million more acres of open space and farmland in ten years. By 2010, New Jersey will have permanently preserved 40 percent of its total landmass, with more than half preserved during her tenure. She is an advocate for "smart growth" and in New Jersey she encouraged new growth in cities and other areas where roads, sewers and schools are already in place. She encouraged redevelopment of cities through programs to streamline cleanups of abandoned industrial "brownfield" sites.

Whitman was New Jersey's first female governor. She appointed New Jersey's first African American State Supreme Court Justice, its first female State Supreme Court Chief Justice and its first female Attorney General.