Judge
Slams Ex-EPA Chief Over Sept. 11 By Larry Neumeister, Associated Press Writer,
February
2, 2006
NEW
YORK - A federal judge blasted former Environmental
Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman on
Thursday for reassuring New Yorkers soon after the
Sept.
11 attacks that it was safe to return to their homes and
offices while toxic dust was polluting the neighborhood.
U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts refused to grant
Whitman immunity against a class-action lawsuit brought
in 2004 by residents, students and workers in lower
Manhattan and Brooklyn who said they were exposed to
hazardous materials from the collapse of the World Trade
Center.
"No reasonable person would have thought that telling
thousands of people that it was safe to return to lower
Manhattan, while knowing that such return could pose
long-term health risks and other dire consequences, was
conduct sanctioned by our laws," the judge said.
She called Whitman's actions "conscience-shocking,"
saying the EPA chief knew that the fall of the twin
towers released tons of hazardous materials into the
air. A call to a spokeswoman for Whitman was not
immediately returned.
The judge let the lawsuit proceed against the EPA and
Whitman, permitting the plaintiffs to try to prove that
the agency and its administrator endangered their
health. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and
reimbursement for cleanup costs and asks the court to
order that a medical monitoring fund be set up to track
the health of those exposed to trade center dust.
In
her ruling, Batts noted that the EPA and Whitman said
repeatedly — beginning just two days after the attack —
that the air appeared safe to breathe. The EPA's
internal watchdog later found that the agency, at the
urging of White House officials, gave misleading
assurances.
Quoting a ruling in an earlier case, the judge said a
public official cannot be held personally liable for
putting the public in harm's way unless the conduct was
so egregious as "to shock the contemporary conscience."
Given her role in protecting the health and environment
for Americans, Whitman's reassurances after Sept. 11
were "without question conscience-shocking," Batts said.
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., said in a statement that New
Yorkers are still depending on the federal government to
describe any ongoing risk from contaminants. "I continue to
believe that the White House owes New Yorkers an explanation,"
she said.
U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (news, bio, voting record),
a Democrat whose district includes the trade center site, said
the many people who worked at the site and developed respiratory
diseases deserve answers. "It is my assumption that thousands of
people — workers and residents — are being slowly poisoned today
because these workplaces and residences were never properly
cleaned up," Nadler said in a telephone interview.
back A Note from Rochelle Lesser I have grown
increasingly concerned about what we DON'T yet
know about the long-term effects of the air quality at the WTC site. So many put their lives on the
line and are now suffering lingering illnesses. And, many of our beloved dogs worked the
site, in both disaster and therapy roles. The fact that they could have potentially
long-term adverse consequences is therefore very troubling. This environmental issue is
especially significant given my own history. Let me explain. . . . . .
Many folks ask how I have been able to create and run this huge
Land of PureGold site. Well, I've been at
it since 1997, but the main reason is that I am on a disability retirement and only do
very limited private practice and school psychology consultant work now, although I used
to work fulltime as a school psychologist in a public system, teach graduate school, and
work extensively in private practice. In the Harford County Public School System in
Maryland, I worked in a small, non-ventilated, non-windowed office at Edgewood Middle
School for eight years. It was consumed by mold and despite continual complaints, nothing
was done.
My secretary and fellow psychologists suffered from respiratory
problems constantly, and my secretary and I both had unexplained, spontaneous nose bleeds
as well. My health deteriorated to the point that I was unable to drive to work without
falling asleep at the wheel. I now suffer from a multitude of disorders (mixed connective
tissue disease, extreme environmental allergies, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome)
and remain at home a good deal of the time. So, you can see that my Goldens,
who accompany me when I do private
psychotherapy with children or visit assisted living homes, are therapeutic agents for
myself as well.
By the way, that office I worked in. Well, after I went out on
disability and the problems increased, the parents started complaining due to
their children having increased breathing problems and asthma attacks. And, guess what?
The school was closed and major abatement needed to be done with those men in the
protective suits having to clean up the contamination. And, where was the worst
concentration found? Yup, my office. That's where the STACHYBOTRYS MOLD, plus others, was
highest. Stachybotrys is that mold that has been featured on numerous news magazine shows,
as it usually sends folks running from homes, and then needing to rebuild as their old
homes cannot be salvaged.
"The REAL heroes of
9-11 sacrificed everything for their country. Rudy Giuliani has
abandoned them. Sadly, you already know much of the real story about
The Real Rudy. That he chose
to put his
anti-terrorist command center in the only spot in New York City
that had been hit by terrorists before, against the advice of every
professional and his own people, because The World Trade Center was
more convenient for him.
Furthermore, you're
aware that
his inaction in updating the radios used by firefighters who
perished that day borders on the criminal. He knew the radios didn't
work at least 8 years before that day, and when he finally chose to
replace them, did so in grand Bushian style with a no-bid contract
for radios that didn't work.
Yet, these were
not even the worst aspects of Giuliani's 9/11 record. He completed
this triumvirate of tragically inept behavior by ignoring the health
of the very heroes who toiled day and night at Ground Zero after the
attack. Nothing I could tell you here could prepare you for what
you're about to watch--once healthy human beings now suffering from
a range of illnesses that are a direct result of a toxic brew they
inhaled in downtown Manhattan, while Rudy was telling them
everything was safe and sound
from his perch at Yankee Stadium and they were spending
sleepless nights trying to save lives (often not wearing respirators
because The Giuliani Administration ignored that federal
requirement).
This is the Real Rudy
Giuliani. A man who wants
to be President and has
9/11 Tourette's Syndrome. Well, every time he heartlessly utters
that simple phrase to try and help his flagging political career,
let's make sure people shake their heads in disgust, because they
know the true story of Rudy Giuliani the 9/11 failure. And one more
thing. Please sign the petition, demanding that Rudy meet with 9/11
first responders he has chosen to heretofore ignore. It is the very
least this man could do." —
Cliff Schecter, Brave
New Films
Below is an amazing film by
Robert Greenwald
that is based on comprehensive factual information. Be sure to watch
the film, broken into three parts, and to check out each link for
the background information that was utilized.
The
New York Environmental Law
& Justice Project is a non-profit public interest organization which
counsels and represents groups and individual concerns with the preservation and
improvement of community environmental conditions. This is their position statement about the situation at the World Trade Center:
We, after much scientific study and sampling into the multitude of carcinogens and toxics
released into the environmental due to the WTC disaster, require that the surrounding area
be designated an
EPA SuperFund
Site. We feel that this is necessary in light of the fact that each of these chemicals can
be most hazardous by themselves but since there are such large quantities and so many of
them combined into a superheated form and dispersed over a large densely metropolitan area
as an extremely fine particulate probably has accentuated its toxicity and possibility for
a synergistic effect. The lack of data or research into this magnitude of exposure simply
does not exist due to the fact that such circumstances have never been encountered. By
Declaring the area to be an
EPA SuperFund site,
the onus to prove safety will be established and appropriate methods and procedures will
be federally enforced. The facts are plain and simple — extremely
hazardous materials became airborne when the World Trade Center disintegrated and thus
could pose a MOST SERIOUS health threat to people who live and work in
the downtown area, not just Ground Zero. These particles and gasses obey the laws of
physics and thus spread around the downtown area and were not confined to the immediate
vicinity of the WTC area. Public trust in government has diminished as workers and
residents have become sick and required medical attention. It is time that the various
governmental agencies at the federal, state, and local level do whatever is necessary,
including a medical registry, to protect the public health and safety and thereby regain
the public's trust.
NEW
YORK - A federal judge blasted former Environmental
Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman on
Thursday for reassuring New Yorkers soon after the
Sept.
11 attacks that it was safe to return to their homes and
offices while toxic dust was polluting the neighborhood.
