Bush lied about 9/11 pollutants
Millions exposed to lethal plume
By Heather Cottin
The Bush administration instructed the
Environmental Protection Agency to lie about air pollution in
New York after the World Trade Center burned up in September
2001. The White House coordinated its effort with the National
Security Council and the EPA on behalf of the capital of
finance capitalism: Wall Street.
According to a report by the EPA's inspec tor general's
office just released--almost two years after the Twin Towers
dis integrated into a trillion toxic particles--the White House
instructed the EPA to give "misleading information."
The Long Island daily Newsday reported Aug. 23 that "some of
the [EPA] press releases were softened before being released to
the public, reassuring information was added and cautionary
information deleted."
"Softened" is a euphemism. All statements had to be cleared
by the National Security Council of the White House.
On Sept. 16, 2001, EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman issued a
statement saying it was "safe for New Yorkers to go back to
work in New York's Financial District." But it was not
safe.
The asbestos level was in some cases 10 times the acceptable
levels. As early as January 2002, reports on asbestos indicated
that the increased danger in "homes or offices that have not
been properly decontaminated could be as high as one additional
cancer death for every 10 people exposed." (St. Louis Post
Dispatch, Jan. 14, 2002)
A vermiculite mine in Libby, Mont., supplied some of the
asbestos used in the World Trade Center. Most of the people in
Libby are now dying of asbestos-related diseases. The W.T.
Grace Company made its money and then closed down the mine.
Cate Jenkins, an EPA senior chemist who measured the levels
of asbestos in Libby, noted the World Trade Center connection
in early 2002. She asked, "Why are government agencies just
shrugging off the fact that many of the apartments and
businesses in lower Manhattan have identical levels of asbestos
or higher?"
Les Skramstad, a miner from Libby, also saw what was
happening back then. "It's the same damned government babble
and indecision that led to half this town being either dead or
dying from asbestos. ... Twenty or 30 years from now, when
those New Yorkers start falling over dead, some young
government bureaucrat will get all choked up apologizing for
what the EPA and others didn't do." (St. Louis Post Dispatch,
Jan. 13, 2002)
What the government did do was distort, cajole and cover
up.
Lethal levels of lead and asbestos were in the air.
Scientists were alarmed at the deadly cocktail of inhalable
particles, toxic metals, asbestos and byproducts of burning
plastic. Yet the EPA directed businesses to open up, saying,
"The general public should be very reassured by initial
sampling."
The plume of debris that blew over Man hattan, Brooklyn and
Queens was called "no significant health hazard," by the EPA.
But there was in fact no basis for saying this. The EPA had not
tested for very fine particles of substances like asbestos.
In November 2001 Dr. Tom Cahill, professor of applied
science and atmospheric sciences at the University of
California Davis, suspected the presence of the ultrafine
particles, considered to be more dangerous to human health than
large particles.(New York Times, Feb. 24, 2002)
But the EPA did what it was told. The government got the
financial district up and running again, while the millions who
inhaled the air and those with deadly dust in their homes,
schools and businesses were kept in the dark.
Undoubtedly, those who worked at Ground Zero and the many
members of cleaning crews will be the most affected. These
workers often immigrants paid the minimum wage and given little
or no safety equipment, cleaned polluted office and residential
space after the disaster.
Sen. Charles Schumer endorsed the coverup, calling it
"understandable. ... If the public loses faith that things are
safe when the government says so, we'll have done more damage.
..." For Schumer and for the White House, people's lives are
secondary. For them, damage control means saving Wall Street
and the liars in Washington.
Reprinted from the Sept. 4, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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