Tonight, Groups Urge Pres. Bush that the Job is Not Finished at Ground Zero, Call for Cleanup, Healthcare and Answers
Sierra Club Press Release, September 20, 2004

WASHINGTON - September 20 - Sierra Club, 9/11 Environmental Action, New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, New York Environmental Law & Justice Project and others will hold a picket outside an event at which President Bush is expected to appear. They will urge the President to take action to address the fact that exposure to pollution from the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center has already caused many hundreds of people in New York City to become ill and continues to present health risks.

Who: Sierra Club, 9/11 Environmental Action, New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, New York Environmental Law & Justice Project and concerned residents and workers

When: Monday, September 20, 2004, 5:30-7 PM

Where: Outside the Sheraton Hotel, 811 Seventh Avenue at 53rd ST

What: Calling on President Bush to meet the needs of the Ground Zero community.

Picketers will urge that the Bush Administration, in the wake of the September 11th attack, did not put public health and safety first. It blocked important health risk information that federal agency experts wanted to release and instead misinformed the public about hazards and the crucial need to prevent exposure. Picketers will call upon President Bush to:

- Take action now to prevent more human exposure to the toxic WTC dust that infiltrated many homes and buildings. A better cleanup must include residential buildings, work spaces, firehouses and emergency vehicles as needed.

- Fund long-term medical monitoring, treatment and assistance, as needed, to all the people who suffer or are at risk from illness because of exposure to WTC pollution.

- Issue a retraction of the federal government's assurances that the WTC pollution did not pose a health hazard; also, identify and censure the top official involved in suppressing health warnings to send a clear message that failure to warn the public truthfully about hazards is unacceptable.

- Work with communities, labor unions, and advocates to develop new policies that promote truthfulness in communicating health risks from disasters and strong action to clean up toxic hazards.

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