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Air Today . . . Gone Tomorrow Article
EPA May Test in Brooklyn
for Trade Center Toxins
By David M. Levitt,
Bloomberg News, February 23, 2005
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is examining whether to test for leftover World
Trade Center-related contamination in northwest Brooklyn, agency officials said today.
The decision comes a month after Brooklyn officials, including U.S. Representative Major
Owens and City Councilman David Yassky, both Democrats, complained the agency was
overlooking toxin-laden dust that rained on Brooklyn Heights, downtown Brooklyn, and other
parts of New York's most populous borough following the Sept. 11, 2001, attack.
Further testing could lead to cleanup efforts like those in Manhattan, where the U.S.
government has paid for professional cleaning in more than 4,300 apartments to remove
traces of asbestos, silica, poisonous metals and other contaminants.
"We're wondering how far into Brooklyn'' testing should reach, Matthew Lorber of the
EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment said at a public hearing in lower
Manhattan. "There's always a cost. If we're talking about expanding, we could dilute
the number of samples that are closer in vicinity to Ground Zero.''
EPA officials also said they are close to identifying the chemical "signature'' of
the dust from the collapse of the towers. The cloud of debris carried pulverized concrete,
and bits of fiber insulation made from minerals, known as "slag wool,'' said Jacky
Rosati, an EPA researcher. Defining the dust's properties would help identify areas for
cleanup.
Ailments
People who live near Ground Zero have complained about elevated levels of asthma and other
respiratory ailments that they attribute to the dust.
Lower Manhattan residents, scientists and environmental advocates continued to assail the
EPA's proposal for sampling interior spaces, which it hopes to finish by mid-year, as not
thorough enough.
Suzanne Mattei, who heads the New York City office of the Sierra Club, a nationwide
environmental organization, told EPA officials that the threshold for ordering a second
cleanup was too high.
"We object to the EPA's plan to use three times the background level as the trigger
for cleanup of asbestos, manmade vitreous fibers and silica,'' said Mattei. "Osama
bin Laden
should not be allowed to triple the level of pollution in our homes and workplaces.''
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversaw the removal of debris after
the Sept. 11 disaster, has earmarked $7 million to 9 million for EPA to do the
reinspections, Brown said. More money probably would have to be appropriated should a
second cleanup be needed, he said.
--Editor: Young
Story illustration: For details about the Environmental Protection Agency's study of
pollution in Lower Manhattan and the Technical Expert Review Panel, see
http://www.epa.gov/wtc . For more New York region news, see {TNYC <GO>} .
To contact the reporter on this story: David M. Levitt in New York at (1) (212) 893-4765
or dlevitt@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward DeMarco at (1) (202) 624-1935 or
demarco1@bloomberg.net
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