For WTC Resources Click Here

2001 News Archive

2002 News Archive

2003 News Archive

2004 News Archive

2006 News Archive

2005

DECEMBER

• EPA Releases Scaled-Back Plan to Test for 9/11 Toxins: Frustrated, Clinton, Nadler and Community Call for a Revision - EPA Panel Chair. "There's No Point in Looking for Things That are Not There" ... The scaled-back indoor testing and clean-up plan released on November 29 by the Environmental Protection Agency to address possible remaining contamination from 9/11 has been met with frustration and derision by community leaders and elected officials, who say its limited scope and methodology are worthless. Lower Manhattan residents who sign up to participate early next year will have their apartments tested for four contaminants - asbestos, manmade vitreous fiber, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and lead. If high levels of these contaminants are found, the apartment will be cleaned free of charge. Among the criticisms of the plan, as stated by Senator Hillary Clinton, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, and community leaders on December 9, arc that the program will not test for other contaminants known to have spewed from the collapsing towers. The plan does not include the testing of apartments in Brooklyn or north of Canal Street, as originally considered. Nor does it include the testing of workplaces. These and other recommendations had been proposed by the WTC Expert Technical Review Panel, a group convened by the EPA in March of 2004 to help develop an environmental testing program for Lower Manhattan ... Senator Clinton said the EPAs actions ignore "many of the concerns of residents and workers who experienced the fallout from the collapse of the World Trade Center first hand, as well as the advice of the independent experts who served on the panel." Representative Nadler voiced even harsher criticism. "This is EPA's shameless effort to find nothing, to spend nothing, to do nothing," he said. ...(Battery Park City Broadsheet, Dec 15, 2005-January 15, 2006)
• Safety Plan in Place as 130 Liberty Street Dismantling Approaches: Emergency Preparedness Responsibilities Handed to the BPC CERT - LMDC Gives 48,000 to the Local Community Emergency Response Team to Expand ... With all eyes on next year's deconstruction of the building at 130 Liberty Street, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has set into motion a multi-step safety program. Scaffolding rising on all four sides of the 40-story building will reach the top floor by the end of the year. Floor-by-floor decontamination and deconstruction will commence in early 2006, and the building is expected to be gone by the spring of 2007. Two separate safety teams are monitoring the deconstruction: one under the auspices of the contractor, Bovis Lend Lease, and an independent team hired through the contractor URS. According to LMDC director of construction Lou Mendes, an engineer inspects the site daily, and there are random safety inspections. Regular emergency drills for workers utilize a handheld radio system so that neighboring residents and workers are not alarmed. ... An expansion of the Battery Park City CERT is expected to enhance community preparedness as this major project goes forward. Using a $47,896 grant from the LMDC, the BPC Community Emergency Response Team will offer information and emergency training to residents and workers in the area around 130 Liberty Street. ...(Battery Park City Broadsheet, Dec 15, 2005-January 15, 2006)
• Red Cross Grant To Help With Mental, Physical Health Needs Of 9/11 Workers ... A major grant will help one city group continue to address the mental and physical health needs of workers who cleaned-up the World Trade Center site. New York Disaster Interfaith Services is getting a $1.7 million Red Cross grant. The group is a coalition of faith and community-based service agencies. It says the grant will allow them to continue addressing the pressing health and housing needs of recovery workers while they await a decision on their workers compensation claims. The president of NYDIS says many members of the clean-up crews do not have insurance or are illegal immigrants. The group estimates that 1,000 recovery workers will benefit from the grant, and just in time. They've seen a rise in recovery workers with mental and health problems within the last year, and say the increase is because those who haven't been treated before are getting worse. (NY1, December 31, 2005)
• Congress OKs Return Of Money Earmarked For 9/11 First Responders ... House leaders voted Thursday to give back $125 million earmarked for September 11th rescue workers. The money, which was included in a multi-billion dollar defense package, was supposed to treat the ongoing ailments of workers who reported to Ground Zero and the Fresh Kills landfill. The funds were originally part of a $20 billion dollar 9/11 aid package President George W. Bush had agreed to give New York City four years ago. But earlier this year the president announced he was rescinding the money because the funds had not been used in time. The bill still needs to be signed by Bush before it is given back to New York City. (NY1, December 23, 2005)
• Panel scientists tee off on E.P.A. plan ... Despite resounding criticism, the Environmental Protection Agency will move ahead with a testing and cleanup plan for Lower Manhattan that its own panelists describe as scientifically flawed, designed to find nothing and a wasted effort. Abandoning a 21-month effort to devise a reliable method to test and clean apartments and workplaces in Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn for remaining World Trade Center dust, E.P.A. decided last month to instead test only apartments in Manhattan south of Canal St. and to check no workplaces at all. Any apartments cleaned in the 2002 and 2003 E.P.A. cleanup effort will not be tested or cleaned in the new program. The agency will begin recruiting residents for the $7 million testing program early next year. The E.P.A. also disbanded the Expert Technical Review Panel, which was established in March 2004 to advise the agency on formulating its new program. At the panel's final meeting on Dec. 13 at the U.S. Customs House, panel members, residents, rescue workers and environmental advocates expressed dismay at the agency's decision, harking back to the months after Sept. 11 when the agency, under the stewardship of Christine Todd Whitman, misled the public about air quality Downtown. The panel was created in 2004 at the behest of Senator Hillary Clinton after the E.P.A. Inspector General's report found serious flaws with the original cleanup. Critics worry that dust lingering in apartments, workplaces and building HVAC systems might continue to contaminate indoor spaces in Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, leading to potential health risks to residents and workers. ... E.P.A. backed away from the testing plan they released in June after a peer review panel found the plan flawed. Peer reviewers voiced doubts that slag wool, an insulating material found in the Trade Center, would be an effective material to use for identifying a signature to isolate W.T.C. dust from typical, urban dust. Rather than revise the testing methods, E.P.A. scrapped its entire plan and opted for a scaled back alternative that resembles the lambasted 2002-2003 cleanup effort. Panelists leveled fierce attacks against the agency, accusing the E.P.A. of ignoring its advice and abandoning science in favor of expediency. "I really feel like I've wasted my time in these past two years on this panel," said Jeanne Stellman, deputy head of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. "We're back to square one with a proposed approach that we've consistently rejected," said Morton Lippmann, a professor of environmental medicine at New York University. "The results will be completely un-interpretable. I can't say anything positive in even bothering to discuss this plan" E.P.A. appears to want to simply spend money and walk away." ... "The problem with the current plan is not just the absence of science, but the extraordinary likelihood of failure," said Steven Markowitz, director of the Center of Biology of Natural Systems at Queens College. "What we're left with is policy based on no science." Panelists voiced doubts that anyone would participate in the testing program and refused to endorse it. "I can't in good conscience tell my neighbors to participate in this," said Marc Wilkenfeld, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University. At times, panelists all but held back the audience from unleashing their wrath on the agency ... (Downtown Express, by Ronda Kaysen, December 16 - 22, 2005)
  
• Congress Gives New Life to 9/11 Programs ... WASHINGTON -- Tucked deep inside a massive defense spending bill approved by Congress Thursday lies a hard-won nugget of aid for rescuers and construction workers still suffering from the aftereffects of Sept. 11. House leaders voted late Thursday for a massive $453 billion dollar defense package which holds billions more for hurricane aid and avian flu protection. It also contains a comparatively tiny measure to treat sick ground zero workers. ... (Associated Press/Newsday, By Devlin Barrett, December 22, 2005)
• EPA Screws New York: New plan for cleaning up 9-11 toxins worse than the old one ... Just four months ago, on the fourth anniversary of 9-11, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent a message to New Yorkers: Trust us. At the time, the agency was locked in a debate with dozens of people who live and work in Lower Manhattan over a proposal to test for toxic dust from the World Trade Center disaster. It was struggling to live down the perception it had failed in its mission to protect New Yorkers (see "Dusted," September 6–13). And so, back then, the official word was progress—how the EPA was listening to its critics, for example, and doing what it takes to make downtown safe. Now, the agency is sending a different message to New Yorkers: Screw you. ... And as if true to form, the EPA has shut down the only venue left calling attention to the toxic dust: its expert panel. Created under pressure from Senator Hillary Clinton, the panel has grown increasingly critical of the agency over the past 20 months. Last week, not one panelist supported the final plan. ...(Village Voice, by Kristen Lombardi, December 20th, 2005)
• Sierra Club's Report Finds Widespread 9/11 Effects Here: Dust Spread from Heights to Coney .... BROOKLYN - Four years after the 9/11 World Trade Center attack, Sierra Club volunteers and staff visited six neighborhoods in Brooklyn to find out what people recalled about the impact of the 9/11 pollution in their own local area. The organization learned that many people in neighborhoods along the western shore of Brooklyn and further inland not only witnessed World Trade Center dust on the street but also saw or smelled contamination in their homes, and that dust deposition also occurred as far away as Coney Island. Concerned residents from other Brooklyn neighborhoods filled out surveys as well. The Sierra Club undertook this survey effort in part because this past November, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it was scaling back its testing program to exclude Brooklyn and parts of Manhattan above Canal Street. ... Little-Known Survey in '03: Other than the publication of aerial photographs of the dust cloud that spread over Brooklyn, and sporadic newspaper accounts describing dust or burnt paper from the towers landing in Brooklyn neighborhoods, little was known about actual deposition of World Trade Center dust in the borough until nearly two years after the attack That was when the Inspector General for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a small survey that it had conducted of New York City residents - including Brooklyn residents - related to the World Trade Center collapse. The Inspector General asked whether or not the respondents knew if their homes been contaminated with dust and/or debris due to the collapse of the towers. The answers from Brooklyn in this little-known survey were striking. The Inspector General received 204 responses from 20 zip code areas of Brooklyn. Of the 204 residents of Brooklyn who responded, 23.5 percent reported that their residence had been contaminated with visible dust and/or debris as a result of the collapse. The highest-response neighborhoods were Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Windsor Terrace. ...(Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 17, 2005)
• E.P.A. to Clean Apartments Despite Objections to Plan ... Despite being rejected by residents, denounced by members of Congress and disowned by the panel of experts that was supposed to shape it, the plan by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to test and clean a limited number of Manhattan apartments for World Trade Center dust will go forward early next year. At a raucous final meeting of the expert panel yesterday, during which dozens of residents angrily condemned the agency for failing to adequately protect them, officials acknowledged that they had decided to go ahead with the scaled-down plan, which was first revealed last month. The cleanup will be limited to apartments in downtown Manhattan below Canal Street, and will exclude the parts of Brooklyn and all the commercial spaces in both boroughs that were covered under an earlier version of the plan. But there are doubts about the cleanup's chances of success. Tenants' groups are discouraging members from taking part in the new effort, and officials say they do not think a public outreach program will overcome the distrust of residents. Some of the sharpest criticisms of the plan during the four-hour meeting in Lower Manhattan came from members of the expert panel itself. ''This is a very, very big mistake,'' said one member, Dr. Marc Wilkenfeld, of Columbia University Health Sciences. ''I can't in good conscience tell my neighbors to take any part in this.'' For nearly two years, the panel of experts has discussed ways of determining the geographic extent of indoor contamination from the Sept. 11 attack, and how to clean up apartments and offices that are found to still contain hazardous material. But last month, the agency abruptly changed course. An independent peer review panel rejected the agency's proposal to use slag wool, a type of insulating material found at the trade center, as a clue to determine how far the dust had spread from ground zero. ... Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Representative Jerrold Nadler, who both called for the creation of the technical panel in 2004, said they were disappointed with the final plan. They have asked the United States General Accountability Office to investigate the agency's ''failure to establish an effective, science-based testing and cleanup plan.'' (NYTimes, by Anthony DePalma, December 14, 2005)
• N.Y. buildings to be tested for 9/11 toxic dust: EPA plan controversial, some want it to be mandatory ... NEW YORK - The federal Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it will go forward with a plan to test inside some lower Manhattan buildings for World Trade Center dust, despite criticism that the program does not go far enough. The final meeting of the EPA's technical panel, more than four years after the Sept. 11 attack, showed that distrust remains from the early days when then-EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman assured New Yorkers that the air was safe to breathe. ... The EPA official who has chaired the technical panel, Timothy Oppelt, said the plan "incorporates the best science available" But during Tuesday's meeting, other panel members, residents and labor advocates derided the plan for its geographic focus, its testing methodology and the fact that it is voluntary. "The plan excludes entire neighborhoods known to have been impacted by the dust cloud, the fires that burned for months and the barge waste transfer operations," said Catherine McVay-Hughes, the downtown community liaison to the panel.Oppelt said the EPA would start recruiting people to participate in the testing program early next year. ... Clinton said the EPA's testing plan "is incredibly frustrating and disappointing" because it does not expand the area tested earlier, or test workplaces or sites the agency has already cleaned. ... (AP/MSNBC, Dec. 14, 2005)
• Afectados por el 9/11 rechazan plan de agencia ... (El Diario, JOSE ACOSTA/EDLP, 12/14/2005)
• Clinton, Nadler Seek GAO Investigation on Cleanup Plan for World Trade Center ... NEW YORK--Rejecting the final report of an Environmental Protection Agency expert panel, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) announced Dec. 9 they will ask the Government Accountability Office to investigate the agency's "failure to establish an effective, science-based testing and cleanup plan" for indoor contamination from the collapse of the World Trade Center. Clinton said that EPA had let the panel's work bog down in "inertia," ignored the panel's input, and reverted to "the failed test-and-clean program" of 2002-2003. She noted that on Nov. 22, she had written EPA seeking a compromise plan but was answered by the announcement of the final plan a week later. "I believe we could have had a deal," she said. "The current plan is woefully short of what is needed." ... Citing a 2003 EPA inspector general report that charged the White House with interfering in the agency's response to the disaster, Clinton asserted that the Bush administration continues to show a "pattern of behavior" that she called "reckless" and "negligent." In a prepared statement, Clinton said that members of the expert panel had "worked in good faith" for 20 months to provide input for an EPA plan "that would properly address the serious health issues involved with indoor air contamination." But they have been faced with "stonewalling and delays," she said. EPA Cited OSHA Jurisdiction: Clinton, in response to a question, called it "ridiculous" for EPA to cite Occupational Safety and Health Administration jurisdiction as a reason not to include workplaces in the plan or to claim that a more extensive program would cost too much. "This is just another example of the wrong-headed priorities of the Bush administration," she said, pointing to the costs of tax cuts and the Iraq war. Clinton and Nadler said they will ask to GAO to study some of the same questions put before the expert panel, not to look into the reasons for EPA's actions in putting out the final report. ... (Occupational Safety and Health Reporter published by Bureau of National Affairs, December 14, 2005)
• Editorial: Dust-up over plan ... ts been almost four years since terrorists struck the World Trade Center, sending it crashing down in a hurricane of dust. In the days following the attack, dust from the site blew across Manhattan, even reaching other boroughs. New Yorkers, including Staten Islanders, who complained of health effects, were largely pooh-poohed by then-EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman who assured New Yorkers that the air was safe to breathe. .... Many New Yorkers beg to differ with Mr. Oppelt. They have been joined by New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes the trade center site, in deriding the plan. "The plan excludes entire neighborhoods known to have been impacted by the dust cloud, the fires that burned for months and the barge waste transfer operations," said Catherine McVay-Hughes, the downtown community liaison to the panel. Ms. Clinton agreed, adding that the EPA's testing plan does not expand the area tested earlier, or test workplaces or sites the agency has already cleaned. We must say that the EPA official's response to those charges sounded somewhat sophomoric. "We put a lot of hard work into this and believe that it's a plan that goes as far as the agency can go with its legal responsibilities and mandates and goes as far as the current scientific information will allow it to go," he said. Ms. Clinton and Mr. Nadler announced they will be requesting that the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, probe the EPA's action three years ago, and the current plan. We believe that such an investigation can't begin soon enough. (Staten Island Advance, December 14, 2005)
• Groups rap test for WTC dust ... Downtown residents and Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers joined health experts yesterday in slamming a federal plan to test for hazardous dust as too limited and scientifically flawed. Members of the World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel accused the Environmental Protection Agency of junking the testing criteria that the agency asked them to provide."We went through 21 months of collegial and technical discussion, the essence of which is ignored in the final product," said panel member David Newman, an industrial hygienist. ...(NYDaily News, by Paul D. Colford, December 14, 2005)
• Clinton, Nadler Seek GAO Investigation on Cleanup Plan for World Trade Center ... Clinton said that EPA had let the panel's work bog down in "inertia," ignored the panel's input, and reverted to "the failed test-and-clean program" of 2002-2003. She noted that on Nov. 22, she had written EPA seeking a compromise plan but was answered by the announcement of the final plan a week later. "I believe we could have had a deal," she said. "The current plan is woefully short of what is needed." ... (BNA Occupational Safety and Health Reporter ... December 14, 2005)
• Residents want EPA to rework dust plan: Brooklyn, Chinatown left out of voluntary 9/11 clean up program ... FINANCIAL DISTRICT — Despite objections from downtown residents and workers — and members of its own panel of experts — the Environmental Protection Agency disbanded the panel yesterday and pressed ahead with a plan many feel is inadequate to test for toxic dust created by the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.Many people who live and work in Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn believe asthma, bronchitis and other ailments are linked to the toxic plume of smoke that covered the area after the Twin Towers collapsed. They believe the remnants of that smoke are still coating their carpets and ventilation systems. ...(metro new york, by amy zimmer, Dec 13, 2005)
• EPA goes ahead with plan to test apartments for World Trade Center dust ... NEW YORK -- The federal Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it will go forward with a plan to test some lower Manhattan apartments for World Trade Center dust, despite criticism from residents and its own expert panel that the program does not go far enough. The contentious final meeting of the EPA's technical review panel, more than four years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, provided evidence that distrust still remains from the early days when then-EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman assured New Yorkers that the air was safe to breathe. "It took all I had to come here this morning because I really don't feel that this is a useful exercise now," said panel member Jeanne Stillman, a professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. "I really feel like I've wasted my time in the last two years on this panel." ... But during a meeting at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, other panel members, downtown residents and labor advocates derided the plan for its narrow geographic focus, its testing methodology and the fact that it is voluntary. "The plan excludes entire neighborhoods known to have been impacted by the dust cloud, the fires that burned for months and the barge waste transfer operations," said Catherine McVay-Hughes, the downtown community liaison to the panel. ... Oppelt said the EPA would start recruiting people to participate in the testing program early in the new year. ... (NYNewsday, by Karen Matthews, December 13, 2005)
• Still Dusted: Clinton, Nadler call for investigation of EPA response to 9-11 ... On Tuesday, local lawmakers requested an independent investigation into the way the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has responded to toxic dust--both the cleanup and the health effects--from the World Trade Center disaster. Senator Hillary Clinton and Congressman Jerrold Nadler sent a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, asking the non-partisan agency to probe EPA's "failure to establish an effective, science-based testing and clean-up plan" of 9-11-related contamination remaining downtown. For nearly two years, dozens of people who live and work in and around Lower Manhattan have been locked in a debate with the EPA over a proposal to test for lingering trade center dust. With the help of an advisory panel convened in response to pressure from Senator Clinton, the EPA had proposed analyzing only limited samples from Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. Last month, the agency scaled back its test and cleanup plan even more, sparking furor among residents, office workers, and others who have been pushing it to do the right thing. ... (Village Voice, by Kristen Lombardi, December 13, 2005)
• Residents want EPA to rework dust plan: Brooklyn, Chinatown left out of voluntary 9/11 clean up program ... FINANCIAL DISTRICT -- Despite objections from downtown residents and workers -- and members of its own panel of experts — the Environmental Protection Agency disbanded the panel yesterday and pressed ahead with a plan many feel is inadequate to test for toxic dust created by the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.Many people who live and work in Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn believe asthma, bronchitis and other ailments are linked to the toxic plume of smoke that covered the area after the Twin Towers collapsed. They believe the remnants of that smoke are still coating their carpets and ventilation systems. They hoped their concerns would be addressed by the panel of scientists and doctors — the World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel — convened nearly two years ago by the EPA to advise on a testing and cleanup plan. The panel suggested a comprehensive plan targeting not only residences, but also workplaces and areas such as Chinatown, the Lower East Side and parts of Brooklyn. But when the EPA released their final plan last month, the program included only residences below Canal Street that volunteered for testing. "I don't think anything we say will be taken into consideration by the EPA," said Micki Siegal de Hernandez, the labor liaison on the panel yesterday at its last public hearing. The final plan, she said, was crafted by the EPA behind closed doors. .... "If you're going to clean up apartment A or B, but not C, and not the ventilation system, then apartment C could re-contaminate the others," said Dave Newman, an industrial hygienist with the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health. "This plan will be used to close the door on the existence of contamination from 9/11 and will just give false assurances." (Metro New York, by Amy Zimmer, DEC 13, 2005)
• Advisors Deride 9-11 Clean-up Plan ... NEW YORK, NY, December 13, 2005 - Advisors to the federal Environmental Protection Agency say the EPA's latest plan to test for World Trade Center dust and contaminants is inadequate. And, at their final meeting today, many members of the expert panel say the EPA ignored their advice, wasted their time, and betrayed the public trust. REPORTER: Doctor Mark Wilkenfeld, of Columbia University, says the EPA's final plan is flawed because it does not require landlords to comply, it excludes offices, and it covers only the area below Canal Street. WILKENFELD: I don't think we can recommend that anyone participate, given the way it is, so it's kinda useless. ... (WNYC, December 13, 2005)
• Brooklyn Residents Criticize EPA For Failing To Test For WTC Dust ... “There was never any outreach to Brooklyn. There was nothing,” Suzanne Mattei, head of the city's Sierra Club, says about the EPA strategy for cleaning up contaminated dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. She and dozens of other New Yorkers spoke out at the final meeting of the EPA panel charged with developing that plan. Many criticized its decision to continue testing only some areas of Lower Manhattan, not north of Canal Street or into Brooklyn. ... The Sierra Club issued a report Tuesday called "Don't Ignore Brooklyn" in which 130 Brooklynites were questioned about their contact with World Trade Center debris. The findings show 84 people saw dust in their neighborhood, and 56 of them had the dust or an odor in their home. The neighborhoods most affected were Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Red Hook. ... (NY1, December 13, 2005)
• Activists Dust Off 9/11 Claim .. Potentially hazardous dust and smoke blanketed some Brooklyn neighborhoods on Sept. 11, 2001 -- even seeping into homes and offices — yet the government won't include the borough in a new indoor dust testing and cleaning program, environmental groups have charged. The Sierra Club survey, titled "Don't Ignore Brooklyn: Residents Report 9/11 Pollution Penetration in Brooklyn Neighborhoods and Homes," claims most Brooklynites saw dust in the streets. It concluded dust showered Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and to some degree, Red Hook. Park Slope also was affected and people in Coney Island reported smoke, dust or burnt paper. (NYPost, by Cathy Burke, December 11, 2005)
• Dems dis WTC cleanup plan ... Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Jerrold Nadler yesterday said the federal government's new plan to clean World Trade Center dust from New York buildings stops far short of what's needed. ... Nadler and Clinton called on the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to explore EPA's handling of the cleanup. The topic has a controversial history dating back to the days after the attack, when then EPA Director Christie Whitman pronounced the air around Ground Zero to be safe. EPA's inspector general eventually determined that the claim was made prematurely and under pressure from the White House. The latest cleanup effort, first released as a fallback plan in June, doesn't allow for the testing of workplaces, or for the cleaning of entire buildings. ... (NYDaily News, by Russ Buettner, December 10, 2005)
• Lawmakers seek second probe of 9/11 air testing ... WASHINGTON -- New York lawmakers clamoring for greater testing of toxic ground zero dust said Friday they will seek a second inquiry to see if the government is sweeping the problem under the rug. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat whose district includes the World Trade Center site, will ask the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to probe their concerns. Clinton and Nadler maintain the Environmental Protection Agency should conduct much more extensive testing work. The EPA's inspector general found fault with the first round of such testing, prompting a technical review and a second round of testing announced last month. The lawmakers said Friday that a second investigation is needed to determine if the EPA is repeating mistakes made the first time. Clinton said the EPA's new testing plan "is incredibly frustrating and disappointing" because it does not expand the area first tested, or test in workplaces or sites the agency has already cleaned. ... (NYNewsday, by Devlin Barrett, December 9, 2005)
  
• Clinton, Nadler Push EPA For Stricter Air Testing Near WTC Site ... Local lawmakers are pushing for the Environmental Protection Agency to take a closer look at the air quality in Lower Manhattan. Last week, the EPA said it would re-test buildings near the World Trade Center site for any contaminants from 9/11. However, Senator Hillary Clinton and Congressman Jerrold Nadler, both New York Democrats, say the plan does not go far enough. ... (NY1, December 09, 2005)
  
• Lawmakers seek second probe of 9/11 air testing ... WASHINGTON -- New York lawmakers clamoring for greater testing of toxic ground zero dust said Friday they will seek a second inquiry to see if the government is sweeping the problem under the rug. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat whose district includes the World Trade Center site, will ask the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to probe their concerns. Clinton and Nadler maintain the Environmental Protection Agency should conduct much more extensive testing work. The EPA's inspector general found fault with the first round of such testing, prompting a technical review and a second round of testing announced last month. The lawmakers said Friday that a second investigation is needed to determine if the EPA is repeating mistakes made the first time. Clinton said the EPA's new testing plan "is incredibly frustrating and disappointing" because it does not expand the area first tested, or test in workplaces or sites the agency has already cleaned. "The EPA is essentially throwing up its hands and washing them of this problem at the same time," said Clinton. ... "But even beyond that, the taxpayers in our country need to know whether the Environmental Protection Agency they pay for is doing its best to protect them, if it's doing anything to protect them," he said. ... (NYNewsday/AP, by Devlin Barrett, December 9, 2005)
  
• Clinton, Nadler, Community Leaders Call on EPA to Fix World Trade Center Air Quality Testing & Clean-Up Plan: Call For GAO Investigation Into EPA Post-9/11 Lower Manhattan Clean-Up Efforts ... New York, NY -- Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Congressman Jerrold Nadler today joined with residents, workers and community advocates in calling on the EPA to revise its plan for testing and cleaning indoor air contamination following the September 11th attacks. At the press conference, Clinton and Nadler also announced that they would ask the U.S. General Accountability Office to investigate the EPA's failure to establish an effective, science-based testing and clean-up plan in response to the post-9/11 environmental disaster. "The plan announced by EPA last week was extremely disappointing. It ignores many of the concerns of residents and workers who experienced the fallout from the collapse of the World Trade Center first hand, as well as the advice of the independent experts who served on the panel," Senator Clinton said. "Over the last 20 months the panelists have worked in good faith to provide input for a plan that would properly address the serious health issues involved with indoor air contamination but have been faced with stonewalling and delays. EPA has an opportunity to change course and address the concerns that have been expressed repeatedly." ... On November 29th, the EPA - ignoring input from its own panel members, residents, workers and the community - announced their plan to test and clean indoor air spaces following the collapse of the World Trade Center. At the press conference, Senator Clinton, Representative Nadler and others called on the GAO to investigate the EPA's failure to establish an effective, science-based testing and clean-up plan in response to the post-9/11 environmental disaster. Clinton and Nadler also called on the EPA to put forward a revised plan incorporating a number of key principles, including but not limited to: .... (News Release, December 9, 2005)
  
• Lawmakers Ask for Additional WTC Air Testing ... New York lawmakers clamoring for greater testing of toxic ground zero dust said Friday they will seek a second inquiry to see if the government is sweeping the problem under the rug. ...(1010 WINS, Dec 9, 2005)
• To The Editor: E.P.A. plan flaws ... We knew we could count on the Downtown Express to smell a scam. The final Environmental Protection Agency "test and clean" program is a disaster for Lower Manhattan residents, workers and small business owners (news article, Dec. 2 - 8, "E.P.A. changes plan -- Clinton, Downtowners fume"). E.P.A.'s testing is rigged to systematically underestimate indoor contamination and will result in a plethora of inaccurate data and deceptive findings that will inevitably be spun as another false all-clear for Downtown neighborhoods.We applaud Ronda Kaysen and your editorial (Dec. 2 - 8, "E.P.A.'s new testing plan: Another in a long line of failures") for defending the truth, and the health of the people who live and work Downtown, especially the kids who are growing up here. ... (Downtown Express, December 9 - 15, 2005)
• 9/11 air aid got hoovered in scam ... The billions of dollars that blew into the city after 9/11 included a $129.7 million giveaway of free air conditioners, air purifiers, air filters and fancy vacuum cleaners, an ongoing Daily News investigation has found. Thanks to the loosely written rules that haunted much of the federal government's $21.4 billion disaster recovery effort, FEMA's clean-air program exploded into a massive scandal that has never been fully explored - until now.... (NYDaily News, December 7, 2005)
• Connecticut company to aid in 9/11 cleanup job ... Windsor-based TRC Companies today announced it has won eight million dollars worth of contracts to help demolish a building damaged by the September 11th attacks, and some of the work will be done in Connecticut. Chief Operating Officer Chris Vincze says work to be done at Windsor and other in-state TRC locations includes "air modeling." That's predicting where the dust and debris will go when the building comes down. The building in question is Deutsche Bank at 130 Liberty Street. Debris from the World Trade Center broke windows and cut a 15-story gash in the front of the building. TRC provides technical assistance to energy, transportation, construction and other industries. It's ranked 37th on Fortune's list of the 100 fastest-growing companies. (Windsor-AP, Dec. 6, 2005)
  
• Checking 9/11 Air: Landlord testing is inconsistent; some tenants monitor their own spaces ... At 90 Church St., landlord Boston Properties conducts regular tests to assess the air quality to reassure tenants that the building is clear of any lingering toxins released four years ago by the collapse of the World Trade Center. But down the street at 100 Church St., landlord Zar Realty does not do any monitoring and insists that its structure is clear. The disparity in how property owners deal with the aftermath of Sept. 11 is likely to continue. ..."The only thing you can do is, when you are negotiating a lease, require that the office is clean and shift the responsibilty to the landlord," says one downtown tenant who did not want to be named. Some landlords say they will keep monitoring air quality, despite the lack of government mandates. "We do continuous checkups, because we have to be able to assure tenants that their workspace is clean," says Richard Cohen, the president of Capital Properties, which own 111 Broadway and 115 Broadway at Thames Street, a landmarked property known as Trinity Centre. ... "It's extremely difficult, and often impossilbe, to get reliable information on what has been done and not done to buildings post-9/11," says David Newman, an industrial hygienist for the New York Committee for Occupational Saftey and Health, a nonprofit that promotes healthy work environments. The absence of stronger government oversight has also let questions linger. "the Fact that people are uneasy and there are so many unanswered questions means someone hasn't done their job correctly," Ms. Rosenthal says. (Crain's New York Business, by Julie Satow, December 5, 2005, p. 3)
• EPA Unveils Its Final Plan for WTC Dust Testing Downtown ... The plan is a scaled-back version of one announced earlier this year that would also have included parts of Brooklyn and commercial spaces ... Oppelt said that workers who are worried about contaminants in commercial spaces must contact the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration or the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. "We just don't have authority when it comes to worker environments," he said. The announcement marks the end of the panel's work. Last spring, it recommended that the EPA sample residential and commercial spaces along the Brooklyn waterfront and below Canal Street to look for so-called "signature dust" from the trade center's collapse. That plan was rejected. ... Catherine McVay Hughes, the Downtown resident on the panel, called the new sampling method inadequate. She said that in addition to looking at WTC dust, the panel was charged with assessing unmet health needs of residents and workers, and that has not been done. "The panel process was shut down without completing its charge," she said. The plan also has come under fire from Sen. Hillary Clinton, who called the disbanding of the panel "unacceptable." She said the new plan failed to address the shortcomings of earlier EPA efforts. But Wendi Thomi, EPA community involvement coordinator, said money was a factor in limiting the testing area. "The sky is not the limit," she said. "We have to work within budgetary constraints." (Tribeca Trib, by Etta Sanders, December 2005)
• Cash up in smoke: Clean-air aid went all over ... Most of the FEMA millions used to help city residents buy clean air equipment to deal with the noxious residue of the 9/11 terrorist attacks was spent in neighborhoods far from Ground Zero, a Daily News computer analysis shows. Satellite photos indicate that the horrific plume flew across the East River to downtown Brooklyn, thinning and rising as it continued on a southeasterly course toward Manhattan Beach, Breezy Point in Queens, then out to sea. But people far from that route - in the Bronx, upper Manhattan, Queens, and on Staten Island - gobbled up big portions of the clean air goodies, supposedly to cleanse their homes of World Trade Center soot. ... The FEMA data, obtained by The News under the federal Freedom of Information Act, doesn't show whether people picked up their government checks after they were approved, though other records suggest that nearly all did. ... Residents of lower Manhattan, for example, collected 14% of the $131 million FEMA says was paid out in the air program. But the rest of the results documented how participation did not follow the flight of the unhealthy ash from Ground Zero. ... (NYDaily News, This series was reported and written by the Daily News Investigative Team: RUSS BUETTNER, HEIDI EVANS, ROBERT GEARTY, BRIAN KATES, GREG B. SMITH, and Assistant Managing Editor RICHARD T. PIENCIAK, December 7, 2005)
• 9/11 air aid got hoovered in scam ... The billions of dollars that blew into the city after 9/11 included a $129.7 million giveaway of free air conditioners, air purifiers, air filters and fancy vacuum cleaners, an ongoing Daily News investigation has found. Thanks to the loosely written rules that haunted much of the federal government's $21.4 billion disaster recovery effort, FEMA's clean-air program exploded into a massive scandal that has never been fully explored - until now. A News investigative series this week has revealed how 9/11 cash went to big businesses that weren't at risk of closing, mob-connected construction companies, and pork-barrel projects with little connection to Ground Zero. ... The program eventually paid for 464,931 pieces of equipment at a cost to taxpayers of $129.7 million - all of it taken from the recovery aid Washington sent to help New York. (NYDaily News, December 7, 2005)
• A feeding frenzy for FEMA funds ... New Yorkers by the tens of thousands received free air conditioners, air purifiers and other clean-air devices in such an illogical pattern that the toxic plume from the smoldering World Trade Center would have had to travel like a wild tornado, arbitrarily touching down here and there throughout the city. The size and scope of abuse in the FEMA-funded program dwarfs any fraud and misuse allegations that have surfaced in disaster aid programs for hurricanes in Florida, wildfires in California and floods in Detroit, according to a four-month Daily News investigation of the federal government's $21.4 billion program to help New York recover from the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The dreadfully flawed program ultimately allowed every New Yorker, if they so desired, to obtain free air conditioners, air purifiers, air filters and vacuum cleaners - up to a total value of $1,750. .... Keith Knight says there was nothing deceptive about his clean-air Web site. ... The program was designed to replace clean air equipment that had been ruined by 9/11 airborne residue and to enable those most affected by a debris trail to clean up their homes. Instead, air conditioners and the other devices were awarded to people living in buildings with central air, in buildings where the windows did not open and in locales where scientific evidence shows there was no environmental impact. FEMA spokesman James McIntyre defended the program, saying it clearly helped those affected by the Trade Center dust, even though many filed bogus claims. "It showed people will take advantage of a situation if they are put in a position that they can," he said. "We try to do business on good faith. I can't speak to people who made dishonest claims just because their borough was eligible." When FEMA expanded its reimbursement program and began doling out money first - to those who said they couldn't afford to wait for reimbursement - inspectors discovered recipients who'd handed in store receipts, then returned their unopened goods for refunds. If they could only get a store credit, many exchanged their clean-air tools for giant TVs and other luxury items. ... As to be expected, large numbers of residents in lower Manhattan collected federal checks for the equipment, which came with purpose of helping residents deal with Ground Zero dust in their homes. In Manhattan's 10 most southern zip codes, 36% of all households were approved for the equipment, meaning that a total of 20,254 people were authorized to receive $19 million worth of clean-air devices, according to a News computer analysis of program data supplied by FEMA. Figures obtained by The News as part of its investigation reveal that participation in the clean-air program was much higher than previously reported. According to data supplied by the state Department of Labor, which administered the giveaway along with FEMA: Overall, the program consumed $129.7million in federal 9/11 disaster recovery funds. FEMA data puts the total at $131 million. The program had been expected to cost $15 million. The program served 118,591 New Yorkers; it had been expected to serve 5,000. By category, New Yorkers received 83,655 air conditioners at a cost of $37.7million. Some $43 million in taxpayer funds went to pay for 119,872 air purifiers.Another $30.7 million went for 164,794 vacuum cleaners, both High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) and wet/dry varieties. And $18.3 million more was dedicated to 96,609 air filters. APPLICATIONS SPIKED Like the problems documented by The News in many other 9/11 disaster recovery aid programs, the air device giveaway had loose operating rules that helped promote abuse.Local politicians complained that too few people were aware of the program, so deadlines were extended and public service announcements appeared in ethnic community newspapers to tout the program. Then, clean air device companies began pushing the free-equipment program aggressively, using advertising and assisting applicants with their paperwork.The application rate spiked as the first deadline, Sept. 30, 2002, approached. The program was extended to Nov. 30, 2002, which caused a huge increase in applications. The program was extended a third time, until Jan. 30, 2003. .... (NYDaily News, December 6, 2005)
  
• Checking 9/11 Air: Landlord Testing Is Inconsistent; Some Tenants Monitor Their Own Spaces ... At 90 Church St., landlord Boston Properties conducts regular tests to assess the air quality to reassure tenants that the building is clear of any lingering toxins released four years ago by the collapse of the World Trade Center.But down the street at 100 Church St., landlord Zar Realty does not do any monitoring and insists that its structure is clear. The disparity in how property owners deal with the aftermath of Sept. 11 is likely to continue. Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would perform limited monitoring of downtown air quality, focusing on residential buildings."This plan will be a fantastic failure," says Linda Rosenthal, an aide to Rep. Jerold Nadler, a Democrat who represents lower Manhattan. She says the lack of government oversight leaves commercial property owners with no incentive to test their buildings. ... Many commercial buildings were scrubbed clean and returned to use. A few towers were left uninhabitable. Experts warn that renovation and cleanup must be done with extreme care because such activity can release toxins. A demolition plan for the Deutsche Bank building was only recently approved by the EPA. Other buildings remain partially inhabited and are being cleaned up as tenants and landlords renovate. "The only thing you can do is, when you are negotiating a lease, require that the office is clean and shift the responsibility to the landlord," says one downtown tenant who did not want to be named. Some landlords say they will keep monitoring air quality, despite the lack of government mandates. "We do continuous checkups, because we have to be able to assure tenants that their workspace is clean," says Richard Cohen, the president of Capital Properties, which owns 111 Broadway and 115 Broadway at Thames Street, a landmarked property known as Trinity Centre. 2003 report: Zar Realty took a different approach at 100 Church St., which was tested after the attacks and deemed clean, according to Richard Seltzer, a lawyer speaking on behalf of Zar. But a 2003 air-quality study reviewed by Crain's found that "World Trade Center dust and hazardous substances are present in the building." The report, by R.J. Lee Group, a consulting firm that also tested the Deutsche Bank building, said toxic materials "have affected the current and future tenability of the building." ...100 Church St. is less than half occupied, and Mr. Seltzer says Zar had been in negotiations to sell the property to the Chetrit Group. Those talks fell through, and Zar has begun marketing the vacant offices to potential tenants, he says. The main tenant is the New York City Law Department, which occupies 300,000 square feet. It regularly monitors the air quality of its offices; the tests have found no contaminants. "I'm not surprised the law department does its own testing," says Jeff Traub, the president of Traub & Traub, a law firm with 2,000 square feet of office space at 100 Church. "I would love to test my offices, but I can't afford it." He says that he is looking to move. Building safety watchdogs say the lack of a lead government agency hinders post-Sept. 11 environmental monitoring efforts. "It is extremely difficult, and often impossible, to get reliable information on what has been done and not done to buildings post-9/11," says David Newman, an industrial hygienist for the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, a nonprofit that promotes healthy work environments. ...(Crain's New York Business, By Julie Satow, December 5, 2005)
• Towers fell, mob schemes began: How organized crime divvied up Ground Zero work ... Down at Ground Zero, the Luchese family, the Colombos, the Gambinos and even the New Jersey-based DeCavalcantes all made out, according to court documents, government records and interviews. They divvied up Ground Zero the way the mob carved up Las Vegas in the old days. Unbeknown to Monchik and his business associates, all of the calls were being tracked by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's office. The DA had been looking into corruption in the asbestos removal industry and happened to run into the blizzard of phone calls in the hours following the terrorist attacks. In documents obtained by The News, investigator Thomas Coyne described Monchik as an "earner" -- a guy who funnels payoff cash to the underworld. Over the years, Monchik made millions as a consultant scaring up hefty government contracts for mob-connected companies, investigators say. Monchik made more calls throughout the 12th and 13th, records show — one to another Luchese associate/subcontractor and five more to the major contracting executive he had called on 9/11, including a conference call with an official at one of the New Jersey-based asbestos removal companies that Monchik worked for as a consultant. He then made what investigators characterize as the most important call of all — to the acting boss of the Luchese crime family, Louis (Louie Bagels) Daidone, a gangster who once held down a suspected informant so he could be shot in both eyes while a dead canary was stuffed into his mouth. According to Coyne, the series of calls immediately following the Trade Center attacks show that Monchik was helping the mob divide up the work that would soon be available at Ground Zero. "Monchik coordinated with other Luchese associates who were 'earners' ... to ensure that Monchik and other Luchese associates received lucrative shares of the Ground Zero cleanup contracts," Coyne wrote. "Monchik followed organized crime protocol of informing the acting boss, Daidone, of Monchik's Ground Zero dealings in order to receive Daidone's approval or rejection." The call to Daidone, Coyne charged, was related to "the division of work between individuals and corporations associated with the Luchese organized crime family." Sources close to the investigation say Monchik is cooperating with prosecutors on the construction corruption but is not spilling about the mob. Although it is not known precisely what Monchik and his gangster associates discussed, it appears that his phone activity paid off handsomely. At least four of the companies Monchik called in those crucial first hours wound up with millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded work related to the 9/11 cleanup. All told, The News investigation found that at least $63.2 million of the $458 million FEMA-funded Ground Zero cleanup went to companies accused of mob ties. Like the rats that infested the ruins of Ground Zero for a time, gangster-related companies were prevalent removing debris from inside the cleanup zone, wiping toxic dust off Trade Center artifacts and decontaminating apartments at Battery Park City. The News has documented that an alleged mob associate wound up as general superintendent for one of the four major contractors hired to supervise the cleanup, a powerful position that investigators say allowed him to steer work to gangster pals. Several firms were later accused of paying off corrupt officials of a union infiltrated by the Mafia to let them use cheaper nonunion help. Investigators found mob figures visiting Ground Zero, too. Tommy Cappa, a Colombo crime family associate, was put on the payroll of an asbestos removal company doing Sept. 11 cleanup while still on probation for his role in a 1991 mob war murder conspiracy. Documents show he was paid $200 a week on the books, but he proclaimed on tape that he pocketed 20% of every job the company won. At one point, investigators watched Cappa meet with Monchik at Ground Zero, then drive off in a white 2002 Jaguar registered to Cappa's wife. At another point, Cappa recounted that he'd met with another gangster, prohibited by probation rules requiring that he avoid organized crime figures. Allegations also surfaced that steel from Ground Zero was being illegally diverted to a New Jersey transfer station. City investigators wound up buying Global Positioning System units for debris removal trucks to make sure they were going where they were supposed to go. LOOSENING THE RULES: Many subcontractors did exemplary work, sacrificing a great deal in a community-spirited moment. But the emergency nature of the Ground Zero cleanup prompted the same disregard for customary business practices that The News investigation has uncovered in other aspects of the 9/11 recovery aid program. The need for speed determined policy. Government traditionally tries to protect taxpayers by making subcontractors compete for jobs with secret bids. Because of the urgency of the Ground Zero cleanup, the city invoked emergency powers, exempting the Department of Design & Construction from competitive bidding, except where it was practical. Because it was never feasible, it never occurred. "That was really seat-of-pants sort of stuff," said one city official involved in the process.Michael Richman, a vice president for one of the subcontractors hired to haul debris, stated in an affidavit filed as part of a related civil lawsuit: "There were no written contracts on this job. Due to the emergency, people began working first and discussed billing later." Referring to a 30-day lull in registration rules for trucking companies, another official who wished to remain anonymous explained: "The licensing regulations went by the board on Sept. 11 because we wanted to get that stuff out of there."(NY Daily News, This series was reported and written by the Investigative Team: RUSS BUETTNER, HEIDI EVANS, ROBERT GEARTY, BRIAN KATES, GREG B. SMITH, and Assistant Managing Editor, RICHARD T. PIENCIAK, December 5, 2005)
• Exposed: Map of Ground Zerp spoils: Where the money went to clear Trade Center debris ... Within days of the 9/11 attacks, the city divided debris removal work around Ground Zero into quadrants. Four construction managers were hired.Almost immediately, the city issued $10 million retainer checks to each of the Big Four: AMEC Construction, Bovis Lend Lease, Tully Construction and Turner Construction. Agreements between the city and the Big Four, as well as with subcontractors, were handled on a pay-as-you-go basis. Without competitive bidding, the four managers picked whomever they wanted to get the job done. Of the $458 million in federal 9/11 aid spent on debris removal, AMEC got $65.8 million, Bovis $277.2 million, Tully $76 million and Turner $39 million.The city also spent money to potentially save money, hiring four anti-corruption monitors to ferret out fraud. Usually companies swallow the costs of such preventive medicine, but in this case, taxpayers footed the bill."Everybody was worrying about all the money pouring into this thing," a city official recalled. Thacher Associates, Stier Anderson, Design Strategies and Getnick & Getnick were hired as monitors. In many cases, they discovered fraud and prevented losses. In other cases, investigators say, the mob and corrupt contractors raided the 9/11 money pot. AMEC CONSTRUCTION: When London-based AMEC Construction showed up at Ground Zero as one of the Big Four hired to run the cleanup job, the firm's U.S. subsidiary already was ensnared in government corruption probes in Missouri and California. AMEC still got the 9/11 job.AMEC's No. 1 guy on the ground was Vice President Leo DiRubbo, a reputed associate of the Luchese crime family. At Ground Zero, it was DiRubbo's responsibility on behalf of the Luchese crime family "to ensure labor peace between organized crime and contractors," according to investigators' reports obtained by The News. AMEC spokeswoman Lauren Gallagher said DiRubbo doesn't work for the company anymore and that AMEC was unaware of the allegations contained in the reports. BIG APPLE/SAFEWAY: AMEC hired Big Apple Wrecking, owned by Harold Greenberg, a reputed mob associate whose firm was barred from government work because of his convictions in bid-rigging and bribery conspiracies. Weeks into the cleanup, Thacher Associates realized Greenberg was on-site and kicked Big Apple off the job, though the firm still collected $203,000. It didn't end there. Safeway Environmental, a firm that investigators allege was controlled by Greenberg, was still at Ground Zero. Safeway got $3.7 million for asbestos and mold removal, and another $3 million to help clean up a severely damaged office tower at 130 Liberty St. Aware of Greenberg's involvement with Safeway, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. came up with an unusual arrangement — Safeway could stay, as long as Greenberg didn't benefit financially. Stefan Pryor, LMDC president, said the agency wanted "to ensure [Greenberg] has no role. ... It is a massive project and Safeway has a small piece of that." He emphasized, "The city had not found that the company was irresponsible. The problem was with Greenberg." Still, sources say, Safeway leased its equipment from Greenberg, rented office space from Greenberg, owed Greenberg a loan. Greenberg also was a Safeway consultant on several jobs.Greenberg did not return calls seeking comment. Safeway denies the alleged ties to the mob. MAZZOCCHI WRECKING: AMEC also hired Mazzocchi Wrecking. A few months after 9/11, the N.J. Division of Gaming Enforcement charged that three members of the DeCavalcante crime family worked for Mazzocchi. The city Department of Investigation determined Mazzocchi "had potentially overbilled the city" for Ground Zero work. The DOI forwarded the information to the city Department of Design and Construction but the probe was closed without prosecution. Mazzocchi, which denies mob ties, earned a total of $16 million from two of the major contractors. Owner Grace Mazzocchi said she was unaware of the three employees' alleged mob ties and noted that they no longer worked there. She also said the DOI investigation stemmed from a money dispute and that Mazzocchi was underpaid for its Ground Zero work. CIVETTA COUSINS and YONKERS CONTRACTING: Civetta won a $1.2 million contract at Ground Zero, and Yonkers won three deals worth $14.5 million. Not long afterward, prosecutors alleged both firms had for years been making regular payments to corrupt officials of Local 15 of the Operating Engineers — a local that prosecutors say long has been infiltrated by the Colombo crime family. Both firms deny mob involvement and have not been charged with wrongdoing. PETER SCALAMANDRE & SONS: In the middle of the 9/11 job, owners of the AMEC-hired subcontractor Peter Scalamandre & Sons, of Freeport, pleaded guilty to laundering $1 million through subcontractors. Prosecutors charged that some cash wound up in the hands of the Luchese crime family. Scalamandre was kicked off the job and was paid $2.8 million. BREEZE NATIONAL: AMEC hired Breeze National, a Brooklyn demolition firm owned by Toby Romano, a reputed Luchese family associate convicted in 1988 of bribing inspectors to overlook health violations on asbestos-removal jobs. Breeze earned $3.9 million. SEASONS CONTRACTING: Turner Construction hired Seasons Contracting, owned by Salvatore Carucci, a reputed Luchese associate who was indicted in 1995 on charges of using a bogus minority-owned business to illegally win government work. Charges were later dismissed because of a flawed indictment. Seasons was paid $26.7 million. LAQUILA CONSTRUCTION: The firm is barred from doing city and federal work, and its president was indicted last December for payoffs to mob-infiltrated union locals. Laquila was paid $125,000. ASBESTOS CONTAINMENT SERVICES: Luchese associate Allen Monchik was a consultant to this firm, which won a small, $95,250 city contract to clean up asbestos on the streets and sidewalks around Ground Zero. A principal of the company has been indicted in a 9/11 ghost-employee scheme. SPECIALTY SERVICE CONTRACTING: A firm tied to Monchik won a $3 million Port Authority contract to clean off WTC artifacts. Prosecutors allege the firm charged taxpayers for ghost employees, materials not used and work not performed. TERMON CONSTRUCTION: Gambino associate Noel Modica negotiated a "loan" for Termon from Monchik, according to investigators' documents. Termon was paid $2.2 million to clean asbestos from Battery Park City. Termon has not been charged with wrongdoing. ... (Daily News, by the Daily News Investigative Team: Russ Buettner, Heidi Evans, Robert Gearty, Brian Kates, Greg B. Smith and Assistant Managing Editor Richard T. Pienciak, December 4, 2005)
• The mob's ghost workers and overbilling: Cleanup scams reigned ... In September 2003, John Micali was on the payroll of a contractor hired to remove asbestos from Ground Zero artifacts — the crushed fire trucks, the trashed furniture, the twisted steel. Micali was listed as a $58,000-a-year employee of Specialty Service Contracting, paid by the Port Authority to clean World Trade Center artifacts at JFK's Hangar 17. There was one serious problem with this arrangement — John Micali was actually in a federal prison cell in Brooklyn. Investigators say the scam was the height of post-9/11 gangster chutzpah.At 6 a.m. on Sept. 17, 2003, the FBI busted Micali as part of a gang that burglarized banks, identifying him as a mob associate who planned to marry the daughter of Louis (Louie Bagels) Daidone, acting boss of the Luchese crime family. Micali — who sports a tattoo on his back that reads "Kill all the police with a shot in the head" — once used a hammer to beat a man who owed the gang money, prosecutors charged. While those details were sufficient to persuade a judge to keep Micali behind bars, they were not enough to get the PA to stop paying for his "work" at Hangar 17. Sources said that while behind bars, he remained on the payroll for weeks. Micali's magical ability to be in two places at once is illustrative of how the mob operated behind the scenes after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Micali was not alone. Investigators discovered that another Specialty worker had apparently found a way to be in three places at once.The worker was listed on payroll records as working the same shift on the same days from Sept. 16-24, 2001, at three different job sites around Ground Zero. That discovery inspired investigators to closely monitor Specialty's other work at the Hangar 17 job.Besides the ghost-employee scam, the mob relied on a catalog of schemes to rip off 9/11 funds from taxpayers: price gouging, falsified record keeping, overbilling and the use of tainted asbestos samples to keep the clock running on a major decontamination job, according to a four-month Daily News investigation into the $21.4 billion 9/11 federal disaster recovery aid package. KEY PLAYER: Prosecutors say the man at the center of many of these scams was Allen Monchik, a twice-convicted felon who specialized in credit card fraud. Working in a wide-ranging probe under Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, investigators say Monchik held a secret interest in Specialty Service Contracting. At Hangar 17, the $3 million artifacts cleanup was overseen by PA engineer Tony Fontanetta, a longtime Monchik friend who, authorities charged, regularly accepted Mets tickets, cash and other bribes. It is inside Hangar 17, investigators say, that the "presence" of ghost employees was most profound. On March 4, 2003, an intercepted conversation between Monchik and Fontanetta laid out how the alleged quid pro quo worked. Monchik said he had four asbestos handlers on the payroll at the hangar. Fontanetta: "Well, you know what you do? Make yours five, okay? Put your number in, it'll come in a little higher than our numbers, but you can say you anticipated five because of the unknown." Fontanetta said he'd possibly be getting more work for Monchik "down at the World Trade," then added, "I appreciate your consideration, eh, Al?" "Ten-four," Monchik replied. Six days later, Monchik and another corrupt PA employee, Mark Jakubek, discussed explanations for a nonexistent security worker at Hangar 17. Monchik: "I'll call it 'a guy on standby,' one person." Jakubek: "I could say, you know, looking over your own equipment, making sure your equipment is safe. That kind of thing ... I think I would be able to work with that." Monchik: "I mean, it sounds like a good song and dance here." The men shared a laugh. In yet another intercepted conversation, on March 19, 2003, Fontanetta told Monchik, "What we're gonna do is we're gonna make an entry on the T&M [time & materials] sheet, so there will be an indication that he was there." Monchik: "I mean, it's all coming out of the Port's money one way or the other, so why shouldn't it just look the same for the day and tell him don't bring the guy in?" Based on the recorded conversations and other evidence, Morgenthau's office and the PA inspector general believe taxpayers were charged for materials never used, and that Specialty tried to charge for extras like an American flag and cameras at Hangar 17 and billed non-9/11 work to the hangar job. Two other schemes involved asbestos removal in the Ground Zero area, according to documents obtained by The News. Specialty was hired with FEMA funds to remove the substance from 90 West St., an office building heavily damaged in the attacks that was to be turned into luxury condos. Even before they started the job, Monchik and his partner, Gerard Dennis, planned on billing for costs above what they bid. As Dennis put it, "We're gonna bang the s--- out of these guys on extras." On May 9, 2003, Monchik was overheard on the phone discussing how to "rip and skip" at 90 West St. In essence, Specialty would remove asbestos-covered pipes while skipping the usual — and costly — rules for safe abatement. Prosecutors say Specialty did this by deliberately beginning the West St. job a week before it told the city, enabling them to avoid scrutiny. It also allowed them to bill for more pipe than they were actually ripping out of the building. "So, let's say they say 6 feet of pipe," Monchik was overheard telling a subordinate. "You write up ‘10 feet.' You know what I mean? On the pipe." Also, investigators watched as Specialty workers loaded trucks at the 90 West St. job with bags of asbestos, then drove out to Long Island to dump the materials illegally, according to a written report about the probe. By the spring of 2003, prosecutors allege, another mob family representative was on the Ground Zero scene: Gambino associate Noel Modica, who was heard resolving a money dispute for yet another subcontractor, Termon Construction of Brooklyn, documents show. Termon, which has not been charged with wrongdoing, was paid $2.2 million to wipe down Trade Center dust from apartments in Battery Park City. Monchik and Modica worked out a deal that May where Termon would "borrow" back some of the money it owed to Specialty — a way to cover up a pass-through payment, according to investigators' reports. A Gambino informant, Michael Di­Leonardo, has described Modica as a mob messenger boy who helped the underworld hide machine guns and conducted surveillance at a hotel where jurors were staying during the 1992 trial of the late mob boss John Gotti. TAINTED SAMPLES: In the fall of 2003, prosecutors say, the 9/11 cleanup corruption reached a new low. Robert Leary, a PA employee monitoring Specialty's payroll at Hangar 17, had quite an incentive to keep the contract going; Prosecutors charge he'd been regularly receiving $50 cash for each ghost employee he certified. The only problem was that tests of the Trade Center artifacts were starting to come back negative for asbestos. Leary allegedly acquired an asbestos-filled sample from a Specialty cleanup job at JFK's Delta Terminal and placed it in with the Hangar 17 samples. Leary was arrested May 12, 2004, and charged with tampering with public records and falsifying business records. In December 2004, 23 others were charged with defrauding the PA and other governmental agencies on several asbestos-removal jobs, including the 9/11 work at Hangar 17. Those charged included Fontanetta, Jakubek and two other PA workers, along with Specialty and two additional asbestos firms. The cases are pending; Monchik is now cooperating with authorities. Fred Hafetz, attorney for Specialty, noted the company has asked a judge to dismiss the case. He declined further comment. (NYDaily News, This series was reported and written by the Daily News Investigative Team: RUSS BUETTNER, HEIDI EVANS, ROBERT GEARTY, BRIAN KATES, GREG B. SMITH and Assistant Managing Editor, RICHARD T. PIENCIAK, December 4, 2005)
• New furor over 9/11 EPA blasted for nixing cleanup ... Despite the smoke and debris that blanketed Brooklyn after the Sept. 11 attacks, a high-ranking federal official said "it wasn't apparent" Kings County got enough toxic dust to warrant a cleanup. The Environmental Protection Agency ditched plans last week to include Brooklyn in a test-and-cleanup program for contaminants from the smoldering World Trade Center site. ... After elected officials protested, a 30-building Brooklyn survey had been included in May as part of the plan - but the EPA withdrew after it couldn't agree with experts on a way to distinguish World Trade Center toxins from regular pollution. "It's not saying there couldn't have been light amounts of dust in other areas," Oppelt told the Daily News, "but our view is we need to focus on areas where there is a lot of dust." ... "I was in Brooklyn on Sept. 11," said Catherine Hughes, the panel's community representative. "It snowed debris ... and fumes from the fire blew for several months to Brooklyn." Hughes added she and other panel members were "distressed" at the final version of the cleanup - which mirrors an earlier sweep in which only Manhattan buildings below Canal St. were eligible for testing. Inspectors in the $7 million EPA cleanup will look for asbestos, lead, man-made vitreous fibers and hydrocarbons for residents and businesses that didn't participate in the first cleanup. It could be finished by August, Oppelt said. ...(NYDaily News, by Hugh Son, December 4, 2005)
• E.P.A. changes plan -- Clinton, Downtowners fume ... The announcement was met with outrage from Senator Hillary Clinton, who helped establish the program, and the scientists, health experts and community members who advised E.P.A. ...For the panelists who dedicated close to two years of their time to the effort, E.P.A.'s decision comes as a disappointment. "They didn't take our advice," said panelist Morton Lippmann, a professor of environmental medicine at the Nelson Institute of Environmental Medicine at New York University. "It was wasted effort. We were volunteering our time and effort and our advice was ignored." By not following the advice of a panel of scientists, environmentalists and health officials, E.P.A. has devised an ineffectual program, say critics. "Doing what they're doing, the data will be uninterruptible," said Lippmann.The program will test units for asbestos, man-made vitreous fiber, lead and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and clean if levels exceed an E.P.A. threshold. Commercial property owners can volunteer communal spaces and their ventilation systems for testing and cleanup, as well. No office spaces will be tested. In what came as a body blow to those close to the cleanup effort, the agency also announced its decision to dismantle the panel. ... (Downtown Express, By Ronda Kaysen, December 2 - 8, 2005)
• Editorial: E.P.A.'s new testing plan: another in a long line of failures ... The evidence that Downtowners are living or working in places still dangerously contaminated from the World Trade Center is not there. It may very well be that our apartments and offices are safe again -- but we don't know that. There are additional tests the E.P.A. could do to give us not certainty, but more assurances. That's what responsible members of the panel, Clinton, U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler and others have been calling for continuously. Nadler, who has led the post-9/11 environmental charge for four years, calls the E.P.A.'s latest announcement a "sham plan." He is right, and is not the only one to find serious flaws in the plan. The independent peer review panel said essentially the same thing about the plan a few months ago, couching their language in diplomatic scientese. ... The E.P.A. plans to approve the sham, dissolve the panel and start to wash their hands of their mess Dec. 13. Maybe they're hoping for a "Brownie, heck of a job" note from the president too. Their job is not done here or in Brooklyn. The best way to stop the charade from proceeding is to embarrass the bureaucrats by protesting in large, large numbers -- there is likely to be a rally outside the last panel meeting, at One Bowling Green 9 a.m. Dec. 13 -- and then to keep up the pressure on the E.P.A. for environmental protection. (Downtown Express, December 2 - 8, 2005)
• L.M.D.C. funds emergency team for Deutsche building ... The Community Emergency Response Team in Battery Park City is being expanded to cover the neighborhood near 130 Liberty St., an office tower that was contaminated and damaged in the World Trade Center disaster and is now being demolished. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which owns and is dismantling the former Deutsche Bank building, enlisted the CERT team as part of an effort to put community concerns about emergency response plans to rest. The corporation gave the team nearly $48,000 that will be disseminated through the city's Office of Emergency Management to train an additional 50 members, purchase more equipment and supplies and educate the community. ... The team will begin outreach and training new members after the holidays, according to Sidney Baumgarten, the team chief. It intends to contact every resident in the affected area and work with the L.M.D.C. on its emergency action plan. Baumgarten, once deputy mayor to Abraham Beame, now runs an emergency preparedness company. .. Some residents wonder if money would be better spent on professional responders instead of volunteer groups. "Empowering the community sounds nice on paper," said Andy Jurinko, a 125 Cedar St. resident. ... (Downtown Express, By Ronda Kaysen, December 2 - 8, 2005)

NOVEMBER

• E.P.A. Changes Cleanup Plans Near Ground Zero ... Abandoning an ambitious cleanup plan for Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, federal environmental officials said yesterday that they would clean, at no cost, any apartment south of Canal Street with unacceptable levels of contaminants from the collapse of the World Trade Center. The Environmental Protection Agency said that under the scaled-down program, all residents south of Canal can ask to have their apartments tested for four types of hazardous materials. Those where contaminants exceed benchmark levels set by the E.P.A. will be cleaned free, officials said. No workplaces will be tested, and Brooklyn will be excluded altogether. The revised plan represents the failure of a technical panel of scientists, local officials and community representatives to agree on the final details of the original, more comprehensive plan. After nearly two years of often rancorous debate and negotiation, the panel was stalled. More than four years have passed since the terrorist attack on the twin towers. Although most offices and commercial spaces are left out of the new plan, commercial landlords can ask to have common areas and ventilation systems tested. ... The panel's abrupt end, and the agency's limited test-and-clean plan, seemed to please almost no one. "The plan ignores many of the recommendations made by the World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel over the last 20 months," Senator Clinton said in a statement. She called the decision to disband the panel unacceptable and said it had not even begun to identify unmet public health needs associated with the aftermath of Sept. 11. "I will be fighting to ensure that the panel completes this important task," she said. Downtown residents and some members of the expert panel criticized the agency for ignoring many of their concerns and for coming up with a plan that will not ensure the safety of their neighborhood. "It looks like the E.P.A. is giving residents a second chance at a plan that was neither comprehensive nor acceptable in the first place," said Catherine McVay Hughes, who lives a few blocks from ground zero and is a community liaison to the technical panel. ... (NYTimes, by Anthony DePalma, November 30, 2005)
  
• Tests to target dust from 9/11 ... Homes and businesses in lower Manhattan will be tested for dust and other contaminants released on 9/11, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday. The $7 million program will target the area south of Canal St. and west of Pike and Allen Sts. It will include a cleanup of spaces found to have excessive levels of asbestos, lead, manmade vitreous fibers - such as Fiberglas - and hydrocarbons typically removed from the atmosphere through precipitation. ... (NYDaily News, by Paul D. Colford, November 30, 2005)
• EPA's WTC dust testing plan outrages residents, groups: More of Manhattan, part of Brooklyn should be included, they say, for fear of health risks ... MANHATTAN -- A coalition of Lower Manhattan residents and labor groups were outraged by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's plan for testing and cleaning toxic dust deposited by the plume of smoke after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. ... "We haven't adequately addressed the health needs of our community and workers," said Catherine McVay Hughes, the community liaison to the World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel of scientists and local officials convened by the EPA almost two years ago to advise them on the cleanup. ... "There are a lot of gray areas that haven't been worked out," McVay Hughes said. "The plan the EPA is offering remains scientifically unsound. It creates so many impediments to finding contamination that we wonder if any cleanups will result." ... (Metro New York, by Amy Zimmer, Nov, 30, 2005)
• EPA Plans to Test 9-11 Dust ... The Environmental Protection Agency has offered its final plan for testing dust left from the World Trade Center collapse in Lower Manhattan. New York lawmakers including Senator Hillary Clinton and Congressman Jerald Nadler, derided the plan as too little too late. Nadler has called for a more expanded testing area, and more extensive testing of buildings hit with the blowing clouds of dust. The EPA's review panel on air pollution from the Trade Center was created after lawmakers complained the agency prematurely assured New Yorkers it posed no health threat. The EPA intends to end the review panel's work next month. (WNYC, by Kathryn Herzog, November 30, 2005)
• EPA plan to test dust from NYC terrorist attack draws flak from senators ... Previous cleanup efforts for apartments occurred in 2002 and 2003, but residents and others have voiced concerns about their effectiveness and the possibility of recontamination. (Waste News, Nov. 30, 2005)
• What, Too Busy Screwing Up New Orleans?: EPA abandons big cleanup plans near New York City's Ground Zero ... (Grist, Nov. 30, 2005)
• 9/11 Air Testing Called 'Too Little, Too Late' ... New York lawmakers including Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, both Democrats, had criticized past EPA testing efforts and demanded more thorough scientific work. They said the plan announced Tuesday fell well short of what was needed, particularly because the agency intends to end the review panel's work next month. "The EPA's proposal today to disband the panel after the next meeting is unacceptable,'' Clinton said in a statement. "The panel has not even begun to meet its mandate to identify unmet public health needs.'' Nadler, whose district includes ground zero, was even more caustic, calling the EPA's plan "a breathtaking slap at the residents and workers of lower Manhattan.'' ... (1010 WINS, November 30, 2005)
• EPA to Scale Back Testing at Ground Zero ... The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it will no longer test for World Trade Center dust contamination in Brooklyn and north of Canal Street in Manhattan, a reduced testing plan that has outraged many politicians and health advocates. The $7 million testing plan also excludes buildings slated for demolition. The EPA will test for four toxic contaminants -- asbestos, lead, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, known as PAHs, and man-made vitreous fibers -- released when the twin towers collapsed in the 2001 terrorist attacks. If enough apartments or offices test positive for contamination, the EPA will send in cleanup crews. The agency lacks authority to require landlords to conduct cleanups. ... Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) forced the EPA to establish the review panel, and she called its disbanding "unacceptable." "The panel has not even begun to meet its mandate to identify unmet public health needs," she said. (Washington Post, By Michael Powell, November 30, 2005)
• EPA plan to test dust from NYC terrorist attack draws flak from senators ... The plan, unveiled Nov. 29, drew sharp criticism from Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who argued that the plan doesn´t do enough and is too geographically limited. The $7 million test and cleanup program covers an area south of Canal Street and west of Pike and Allen streets. The EPA will analyze the samples for asbestos, man-made vitreous fiber, lead and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Previous cleanup efforts for apartments occurred in 2002 and 2003, but residents and others have voiced concerns about their effectiveness and the possibility of recontamination. (WasteNews, Nov. 30, 2005)
  
• EPA to sample for WTC dust ... The announcement came a month after the agency's own peer review panel rejected the original sampling plan because "EPA has not made the case that its proposed analytical method can reliably discriminate background dust from dust contaminated with WTC residue....The proposed method has not demonstrated the utility of slag wool as a successful signature constituent." ... The reaction from the community is one of disappointment. For David Newman, an industrial hygienist with the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), the plan is a failure. "I think it's a terrible plan," said Newman, who also served on the panel. Newman is not surprised by the plan, though, saying he knew something like this would be produced once the peer review returned in October. "Probably the only thing positive I can say about this plan is that it includes three additional (contaminants of particular concern) to be tested for. But the plan really fails and is inadequate to accomplish its mission." Since the peer review panel rejected the June sampling plan a month ago, community activists and panel members have been hedging their bets on just what was next for the plan. Many were not surprised at the peer review rejection, but remained worried about what the next step would be. .... To Newman, that means the panel has not fulfilled its mission. "The mission of the panel is pretty clear, and it's pretty clear that we have not achieved or accomplished the mission set out for us. None of that has happened. It's just a disappointing retreat from the EPA's and the panel's mandate - and the EPA's statutory mission to protect environmental health." Newman said he expects the level of outrage from the public will be high at the December meeting, and once the panel is disbanded, that the outrage will continue through the work of the residential and labor community around the city. "People who are concerned and who have been affected will continue to be active around these issues. It's just unfortunate that the opportunity to address this in a focused manner is coming to an end." ... (Disaster News, by Heather Moyer, November 30, 2005)
• EPA Reduces Area for World Trade Center Dust Testing ... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in a final plan issued today, reduced the area of New York City where buildings are to be retested for residual contamination from the collapse of the World Trade Center more than four years ago. The testing area now covers all of lower Manhattan south of Canal Street and west of Pike and Allen streets, which are near the Manhattan Bridge. In May, the agency doubled the testing zone and included northwestern Brooklyn..... Clinton Criticism: U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been monitoring the agency's efforts, called the plan inadequate. ``It fails to correct the major problems identified by the EPA's inspector general in 2003,'' Clinton, a New York Democrat, said in an e-mailed statement. The senator, citing the inspector general's report said there was no scientific basis for limiting the testing area. ... (Bloomberg News, By David M. Levitt, November 29, 2005)
• EPA Offers Final 9/11 Dust Testing Plan For Lower Manhattan ... WASHINGTON -- The government offered its final plan for testing lower Manhattan buildings for leftover dust from the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack. Lawmakers derided the move Tuesday as too little, too late. ... New York lawmakers including Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, both Democrats, had criticized past EPA testing efforts and demanded more thorough scientific work. They said the plan announced Tuesday fell well short of what was needed, particularly because the agency intends to end the review panel's work next month. "The EPA's proposal today to disband the panel after the next meeting is unacceptable," Clinton said in a statement. "The panel has not even begun to meet its mandate to identify unmet public health needs." ... (AP/NBC, November 29, 2005)
• Statement of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on the Release of the EPA's World Trade Center Testing Plan ... "While the plan includes modest improvements over the prior EPA indoor cleanup program, it fails to correct the major problems identified by EPA's Inspector General in 2003. For example, the plan does not include testing in north of Canal Street or in Brooklyn, in spite of the Inspector General's conclusion that the cleanup boundaries were not scientifically developed. In addition, the plan ignores many of the recommendations made by the World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel over the last 20 months. Finally, the EPA's proposal today to disband the Panel after the next meeting is unacceptable. The Panel has not even begun to meet its mandate to identify unmet public health needs and recommend any steps to further minimize the risks associated with the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks. I will be fighting to ensure that the Panel completes this important task." (News Release, November 29, 2005)
• Nadler Statement on New EPA Testing Plan ... WASHINGTON, D.C., Congressman Jerrold Nadler released the following statement today following the Environmental Protection Agency's announcement that it has drafted a new testing and cleaning plan. "This testing and cleanup plan is a breathtaking slap at the residents and workers of Lower Manhattan. Once again, EPA is quite callously demonstrating that the health and safety of those affected by 9/11 are simply not a priority. "EPA continues to ignore mounting evidence about dust contamination, the testimony of sick residents and workers who are still exposed to harmful substances, and the opinions of its very own panelists. "This sham plan is terrible in many ways: it excludes workplaces; it does not address the problem of contaminated HVAC systems; it ignores buildings slated for demolition; it will not investigate whether areas have been re-contaminated; and it does not cover all the geographic areas known to have been showered with dust – and that's just for starters. "The EPA has, however, met several of its traditional internal goals: to obfuscate the facts, to deny the truth, and to produce a plan designed not to find any contamination." (News Release, November 29, 2005)
  
• EPA offers final Sept. 11 dust testing plan for lower Manhattan buildings ... The government offered its final plan for testing lower Manhattan buildings for leftover dust from the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack. Lawmakers derided the move Tuesday as too little, too late. ...New York lawmakers including Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, both Democrats, had criticized past EPA testing efforts and demanded more thorough scientific work. They said the plan announced Tuesday fell well short of what was needed, particularly because the agency intends to end the review panel's work next month. "The EPA's proposal today to disband the panel after the next meeting is unacceptable," Clinton said in a statement. "The panel has not even begun to meet its mandate to identify unmet public health needs." Nadler, whose district includes ground zero, was even more caustic, calling the EPA's plan "a breathtaking slap at the residents and workers of lower Manhattan." The review panel was created after Clinton and Nadler complained the agency prematurely assured New Yorkers that air pollution from 1.8 million tons of World Trade Center debris posed no health threat. (AP/Daily News, Devlin Barrett, November 29, 2005)
• Disputed $125 Million Aid for Injured Responders Restored to the Federal Budget, Again ... (NYCOSH Update, November 28, 2005)
• Falling Deutsche glass hits Albany St. ... Glass fell from the damaged Deutsche Building onto the street last week, the second such incident in the last 14 months.... In high wind on Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 16, fragments from a 3-foot by 3-foot windowpane on the south side of the building came loose. Some of the glass fell through the perimeter protection area, but a few pieces fell first onto the sidewalk shed and then onto the street, which is open to traffic and pedestrians.... Officials with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation say new safeguards have been implemented to prevent a third incident. ... (Downtown Express, Nov. 25 - Dec. 2, 2005)
  
• New Orleans Assesses Rebuilding Risks Based on WTC Experience ... New Orleans --The liability pitfalls experienced during the cleanup effort at the World Trade Center site after the 2001 terrorist attack are serving as a blueprint for caution among contractors and construction insurers tapped to help rebuild New Orleans. The liability issues facing construction workers in the hurricane-ravaged city are significant and of a much larger scale compared with Ground Zero, observers say. ...Uncertain site conditions; unknown health hazards such as chemicals that could be released during cleanup; and the lack of certainty on contracting provisions and legal environments are among the many risks that can't be quantified, Becker said. .... (November 28, 2005)
• City to get back 125M in 9/11 aid ... Relenting to political pressure from New York lawmakers, Congress has done an abrupt about-face and pledged to reinstate $125 million in aid to 9/11 first-responders. ... (NY Daily News, November 23, 2005)
• Clinton, Nadler and World Trade Center Expert Technical Panelists Press for Final Indoor Testing Plan: Letter to EPA Outlines Principles That Plan Should Incorporate and Asks for Meeting With EPA ... Washington, DC - In response to what they see as slowing progress in the efforts to determine the extent of remaining indoor contamination following the September 11th attacks, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Congressman Jerrold Nadler wrote a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen Johnson to call for more action and to convene a meeting to develop a consensus plan. Clinton and Nadler were joined on the letter by four members of the World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel ("WTC Panel"), as well as the panel's community and labor liaisons. The primary task of the WTC Panel is to help the EPA to design a testing plan to determine the extent of existing indoor contamination resulting from the collapse of the World Trade Center. The plan has been under development for 20 months by EPA and the WTC Panel. ... (News Release Senator Clinton, November 22, 2005)
  
• A Happier Thanksgiving for 9/11 Heroes: 9/11 Injured Responders Will Keep Federal Aid: Rep. Maloney applauds Rep. Fossella, united NY delegation for securing commitment from Speaker of the House to reinstate money ... WASHINGTON, DC - The House Speaker, Dennis Hastert (R-IL), has agreed to preserve 9/11 injured responder aid that was on the verge of being taken away (http://www.house.gov/maloney/issues/Sept11/112205letter_hastert.pdf). Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY) was able to secure an agreement from the Speaker following months of pressure from the united New York delegation to scuttle a Bush administration plan that would take back $125 million appropriated for injured responders after 9/11.... (News Release, November 22, 2005)
• Letter to the Editor: Deutsche plan concerns ... I, too, was upset about the disruption of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. meeting to discuss the demolition of the Deutsche Bank building. I came to get information, too. But I didn't want just my own private concerns answered, I wanted to hear everyone's concerns publicly and to get a response. That is why an open mic was crucial. That is why simply dragging oneself to Community Board 1 meetings is not enough, even for a C.B. 1 public member like myself. That is why C.B. 1 (to its credit) eventually withdrew its support of L.M.D.C.'s decision to let individuals take "questions to experts directly at small tables....to get information quickly and discreetly without standing in front of a crowd." This was billed as a public meeting. That meant, to me at least, hearing the public, i.e. everyone, you and those with tape over their mouths. Yes, it could get messy, and, yes, as you note, "there is no way to control a public meeting." That's the exact point and L.M.D.C. should have responded by opening up mics for public comment, avoiding all the drama that ensued. ... You note, "to be clear, contamination to the public can be harmful." You say you do not believe the risks from contamination "is substantial." You may be right. What I, and my CERT team, and your neighbors, and many, many good citizens worry about is that there is no plan in place in case you are wrong. ... (scroll down, Downtown Express, by Jean Bergantini Grillo, November 18 - 24, 2005)
• House Leader Pledges to Return 9/11 Funds ... A top House Republican has promised to give back to New York some $125 million in Sept. 11 aid that lawmakers had decided to take away just a week earlier. Much of the money will be directed to provide health care for injured firefighters and police officers, officials said. House Speaker Dennis Hastert wrote to Rep. Vito Fossella, pledging to return the funding as part of a spending package to fund post-hurricane relief efforts along the Gulf Coast. ...(1010 WINS, Nov 22, 2005)
• Working to reduce the pain from $20 billion worth of construction ... Environmental monitoring is another key aspect to the work we are doing at the Command Center. We have now identified four locations for area-wide air monitoring: 90 Maiden Lane, 292 Greenwich St. (P.S. 234), 80 Catherine St. (P.S. 80), 1 World Financial Center (Albany & South End Ave.). Results will be monitored daily and regular posting of the results will be coming to LowerManhattan.info shortly. ... (Downtown Express, By Charles J. Maikish, November 18 - 24, 2005)
  
• 90 Church Staff Lobbying For Better Windows ... A coalition of state, city and Federal unions gathered on the steps of City Hall Nov. 10 to renew their calls for double-paned windows in their workplace at 90 Church St. in lower Manhattan. The workers have been protesting the lack of protective interior windows for more than a year without success. They're worried that the pending demolition of several buildings damaged on 9/11 will stir up toxic dust that's been dormant, and that diesel fumes and increased particulate matter will increase air pollution around the site. They said their existing windows, installed in the 1930s, were ill-fitting and "leaky." ... (The Chief-Leader, By Ginger Adams Otis, November 18, 2005)
• 90 Church Staff Lobbying For Better Windows ... A coalition of state, city and Federal unions gathered on the steps of City Hall Nov. 10 to renew their calls for double-paned windows in their workplace at 90 Church St. in lower Manhattan. The workers have been protesting the lack of protective interior windows for more than a year without success. They're worried that the pending demolition of several buildings damaged on 9/11 will stir up toxic dust that's been dormant, and that diesel fumes and increased particulate matter will increase air pollution around the site. They said their existing windows, installed in the 1930s, were ill-fitting and "leaky." Speaking of the Mayor... The group presented a petition signed with more than 1,300 worker signatures to City Council Member Robert Jackson, who attended the protest in a show of solidarity and promised to make sure "the Mayor saw it." ... Pleas Go Unheeded ...But since then, she stated, neither the city, the Postal Service, nor the building's owner -- Mort Zuckerman of Boston Properties — has responded to their calls for better windows to keep out dust and pollution. "Why not work with us?" shouted Ms. Kitt, addressing her question to the absent Mr. Zuckerman — who is the publisher of the Daily News — the HA and Postal Service. "Why not keep us safe and healthy?" Several floors in the building have been double-paned, but only those occupied by PEF employees, who work for the state. Many of them spoke at the rally, saying they wanted the same consideration extended to their fellow workers.... HA: Did What's Needed ... HA officials have previously stated that they feel they've taken sufficient steps to protect worker health. The agency brought in industrial cleaners after 9/11 and had the building stripped while checking for contamination. They installed pre-filters to supplement the building's ventilation system and do regular testing of air and water quality. But the workers said there's still visible detritus wafting in every day, and they're concerned about the cumulative effect of working eight-hour shifts in an area that they describe as "the city's largest construction site for the next 10 years." ... (The Chief-Leader, by Ginger Adams Otis, November 18, 2005)
• Letter to the Editor ... The unresolved deficiencies in the plans identified by those attending the Oct. 24 meeting include a lack of adequate emergency notification to the community, unqualified workers permitted to monitor safety, and testing planned for the wrong intervals and locations. These problems still need to be remedied in order to protect the community (especially those of us who live the closest) through the demolition of a very large and contaminated structure. We disagree with Dave that these are insubstantial matters. We also disagree with Dave's readiness to assume that any lapses on the L.M.D.C.'s part will be remedied through oversight by city agencies. It's barely six months since vigilance and follow-through by neighbors in our building saved us from a city-authorized demolition of a contaminated and entirely unremediated building on Thames St. (news article, May 27 - June 2, "City issues then revokes demolition permits"). Where were the guarantors of our safety then? Open processes are messy and not to everyone's taste. In our view, however, that mess is preferable to the mess of a demolition process gone awry. (Downtown Express, by 125 Cedar St. residents, November 11 - 17, 2005)
• Letter to the Editor ... I very much appreciated Ronda Kaysen's article, "L.M.D.C. pummeled at public meeting" (news article, Oct. 28 - Nov. 3). It stated very well how helpless many residents near the Deutsche Bank building feel about living next to a high-risk demolition. Even though our questions were answered by L.M.D.C. last Monday night, the answers are the same as they have been for months. It appears as though L.M.D.C. will not take our questions seriously, because they don't seem to be offering up any new solutions to the problems that still exist. ...(Downtown Express, by Esther Regelson, November 11 - 17, 2005)
• Washington Lawmakers Taking 9/11 Aid Back ... Congressional budget negotiators have decided to take back $125 million in Sept. 11 aid from New York, which had fought to keep the money to treat sick and injured ground zero workers, lawmakers said Tuesday. New York officials had sought for months to hold onto the funding, originally meant to cover increased worker compensation costs stemming from the 2001 terror attacks.(1010 WINS, Nov 16, 2005)
• Katrina Cough: The health problems of 9/11 are back.... Katrina cough isn't necessarily dramatic, and some experts have dismissed it as minor. But it can be serious for people with asthma, respiratory illness, or compromised immune systems. As we should have learned from the aftermath of 9/11, early symptoms like coughs can auger chronic health problems among people who aren't protected from ongoing hazards. If Katrina cough follows the 9/11 pattern, more people are likely to become sick months or years from now—unless we start doing more to protect them. Following 9/11, the EPA and OSHA failed to safeguard nearby residents and workers at Ground Zero from unnecessary exposures to asbestos, lead, glass fibers, concrete dust, and other toxins. The damage was caused not by a few days of rescue work, but by weeks and months of cleaning up the site or living nearby. The EPA offered assurances that the air outside of Ground Zero was safe to breathe—even though, as the agency's inspector general found in 2003, the agency "did not have sufficient data and analyses to make such a blanket statement." ... (Slate, by Amanda Schaffer, Nov. 15, 2005)
• Protesters Demand Improved Safety In Building ... Wearing blue face masks and carrying yellow signs picturing dead canaries, dozens of city workers protested in front of City Hall yesterday for the installation of double windows, because the existing windows do not filter the pollution entering their workplace. Worried about the quality of the air they are breathing in the building where they work at 90 Church Street, next to Ground Zero, workers demanded the safety measures and the double windows to prevent the entry of harmful particles that still remain in the air, according to the workers, union representatives and Councilman Robert Jackson. ... (HOY, by Santiago Bonilla, November 11, 2005)
• E.P.A. to change dust plan after rebuke ... The Environmental Protection Agency expects to release a new plan to sample Downtown and Brooklyn buildings for remaining World Trade Center dust in the next month, now that a panel of experts derailed its original efforts. Last week, an independent panel of experts from around the country rejected the E.P.A.'s plan to sample for dust from the plume that followed the Sept. 11 collapse of the W.T.C., insisting the sampling method is scientifically unsound. The agency hoped to begin sampling a selection of Downtown and Brooklyn buildings for remaining W.T.C. dust this year, relying on a so-called signature in the dust. The signature would theoretically differentiate W.T.C. dust from other, unrelated city dust. ... But the panel's findings -- a peer review process -- rejected the idea that the agency could rely on one element, slag wool from the W.T.C. insulation material, to determine a signature. "E.P.A. has not made the case that its proposed analytical method can reliably discriminate background dust from dust contaminated with W.T.C. residue," the panel wrote in its findings. "The proposed method has not demonstrated the utility of slag wool as a successful signature constituent." ... The latest setback has done little to appease the concerns of residents. "We're very concerned what E.P.A.'s next move is," said Catherine McVay Hughes, community liaison for the technical review panel and chairperson of Community Board 1's W.T.C. Redevelopment Committee. "We're very concerned about the details of plan B. We're very concerned about it."... (Downtown Express, By Ronda Kaysen, November 4 - 10, 2005)
• Talking Point: More heat than light from Deutsche meeting demonstrators ... To the credit of Community Board 1, various environmental groups and experts, and the L.M.D.C., the removal of Deutsche looks like it will be far safer for everyone involved. We are all indebted to the watchdog groups who have forced the L.M.D.C. to address very real environmental concerns. But, after months of intense discussions, it is time to stop fighting and move ahead. The L.M.D.C. has significantly enhanced the original take down procedures (compared to the earlier L.M.D.C. plans of December 2004, May 2005, and June 2005). The Environmental Protection Agency found the Sept. 7 final plans acceptable. ... (Downtown Express, November 4 - 10, 2005)
• Letter to the Editor: A better Deutsche plan ... t is unfortunate that it took a disruptive demonstration to force the L.M.D.C. to do what is right, but given L.M.D.C.'s continuing disregard for the health and well-being of Downtown residents and workers, it was necessary to take action to prevent L.M.D.C. from avoiding questions about the serious deficiencies in their current demolition plan. Downtown workers and residents have a right to a plan that provides the strongest safeguards against the release of contaminants from the building under demolition into the atmosphere, as well as a well-designed emergency notification procedure in case the safeguards fail. The current plan provides neither. ... (Downtown Express, by Paul Stein, November 4 - 10, 2005)
• Second EMT Dies of Lung Disease ... The Fire Department Oct. 28 held funeral services for an Emergency Medical Technician who passed away Oct. 23 from a lung illness believed to be related to his work at Ground Zero. ... (Chief-Leader, By Ginger Adams Otis, November 4, 2005)
• 9/11 firefighters show long-term lung damage ... The latest follow-up report on lung function in New York City firefighters shows that firefighters who served in rescue efforts in the World Trade Center collapse are showing "accelerated pulmonary function decline." The data were presented here Wednesday at CHEST 2005, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians. Dr. David Pezant of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and deputy chief medical officer of the New York City Department of Firefighters was lead author of the report involving 12,079 firefighters who worked at the site before, during and after September 11, 2001, as well as those who were never exposed. ... The firefighters underwent lung function testing two to three times a year prior to 9/11 and once annually since then. Spirometry measures of lung function correlated linearly with arrival time at the disaster site, Pezant announced. "Pulmonary function (forced expiratory volume in 1 second, or FEV1) decline was about 20 to 30 mL a year prior to the attack, which you would expect with the normal aging process," Pezant told Reuters Health. "Instead, what we found was figures 12 times higher than that." Lung function dropped the most for firefighters exposed during the collapse, followed by those who arrived over the next 48 hours, followed those who were exposed after that. Decline in lung function was around 50 percent greater in those with late exposure compared with those who were never exposed, he noted. Pezant pointed out that the long-term course of lung function decline is uncertain. The decline in pulmonary function appears to correlate with respiratory symptoms, he added. He also said: "I can tell you anecdotally that while there is some improvement in those who are treated, treatment does not eliminate the drop in pulmonary function entirely." (Reuters, by Martha Kerr, Nov. 3, 2005)
• L.M.D.C. pummeled at public meeting ... The last thing the embattled Lower Manhattan Development Corporation needed this week was a public relations snafu. But that is exactly what the agency got when it hosted an "open house" about the demolition of 130 Liberty St. Michael Haberman, community liaison for L.M.D.C., the agency vested with the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan, was dramatically interrupted as he explained the evening's agenda. Protestors with blue tape covering their mouths wielding yellow signs that blasted "L.M.D.C. wants to silence the Lower Manhattan community" shouted questions and accusations through Haberman's introduction.... Critics protested the meeting not for its content so much as its format. In lieu of the traditional "open mic" format where speakers ask their questions publicly, L.M.D.C. opted for an "open table" setup where members of the public individually approach various experts and agencies seated at tables and ask their questions privately. L.M.D.C. would then publicly answer a selection of the questions. ... "The people who have questions are not going to have a full opportunity to ask them in a proper venue," Linda Rosenthal, an aide to Nadler, told Downtown Express shortly before the meeting. ... Monday night's outburst is the latest example of escalating friction between the development corporation and the community board. C.B. 1 members hammered Haberman at a recent board meeting about the demise of the International Freedom Center, a museum planned for the new World Trade Center. The following night, the board passed two resolutions scolding L.M.D.C. for the slow pace of the redevelopment and the lack of public input in the process. ...Critics wonder if the sudden Sept. 11-anniversary approval was more than a coincidence, a theory Evangelista did not reject. The two agencies decided to hammer out an agreement through a series of meetings over the summer, .... (Downtown Express, by Ronda Kaysen, Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2005)
• UnderCover: Gerson aides of yore ... City Councilmember Alan Gerson's absence from a recent Lower Manhattan Development Corporation open house raised eyebrows in some circles, with Downtown sources wondering if the councilmember's loyalty to former aides kept him silent. The meeting about 130 Liberty St. degenerated into a mutinous free-for-all when audience members declared format undemocratic and took control of the microphone. But Gerson, who represents the district, was nowhere to be seen on Monday night and said nothing publicly about the L.M.D.C.'s choice of format, despite a boycott of the event by Community Board 1 and a widely-circulated letter of protest from U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler and State Sen. Martin Connor. Two of the city councilmember's former aides now have close ties to the corporation. Gerson's former assistant chief of staff, Robin Forst, left her post in June to work for Downtown construction czar Charlie Maikish. ... (Downtown Express, by Ronda Kaysen, Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2005)
• What Happened to That Cloud of Dust? ... It remains one of the most powerful images of the day the twin towers fell - a towering cloud of angry gray dust that rose up from the debris and raged through the canyons of Lower Manhattan, blotting out the sun and choking everything, and everyo