City Council To Fault 9/11 Cleanup

City Council to Fault 9/11 Cleanup

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/nyregion/01dust.html

By ANTHONY DEPALMA
Published: March 1, 2006

The City Council is poised to reject the federal government's latest effort to clean apartments contaminated by dust from the collapse of the twin towers, calling the plan "technically and scientifically flawed."

Buildings Farther From Ground Zero to Be Tested for Contaminated Dust (May 12, 2005) In a resolution scheduled to be introduced today, the Council will join community groups, labor unions and the city's Congressional delegation in condemning the way the Environmental Protection Agency has handled environmental and health issues resulting from the destruction of the World Trade Center.

"We will never successfully rebuild Lower Manhattan until we can all be assured that we have successfully cleaned up Lower Manhattan," said Councilman Alan Jay Gerson, chairman of the Committee on Lower Manhattan Redevelopment, which held its first hearing Monday.

The resolution urges the federal agency to devise a new sampling and cleanup plan that includes both residences and workplaces in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.

The E.P.A. declined to testify at the committee hearing. But in an interview yesterday, Alan J. Steinberg, regional administrator, said the plan was based on sound science. But he said the agency was re-examining a proposal rejected by independent scientists last year to use a specific substance — a type of insulation called slag wool that was used in the towers — as a marker to indicate the presence of trade center dust. The results of that analysis should be completed early next month, he said.

The Council has no authority over the federal agency, but a resolution criticizing the cleanup plan would underscore growing dissatisfaction with federal efforts. Various cleanups have been undertaken since 9/11, but they have not calmed concerns about the effect of asbestos, lead, mercury and other dangerous substances from the towers.

Last year, the federal agency considered a new plan to sample and clean apartments and commercial buildings in an area from a few blocks north of Canal Street to the Brooklyn waterfront. But last year the agency dropped the broad sampling plan because the slag wool marker was rejected. Instead, it plans to clean only Manhattan apartments below Canal Street on request of the owner or resident.