September 11th Environmental Hypocrisy

[Guest guest]

Healing Our World: Weekly Comment

By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

September 11th Environmental Hypocrisy

" Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains

enough to be honest. "

-- lin

Two key figures have resigned from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) in the last month. Both officials, the chief investigator for the EPA's

Ombudsman Office and the Ombudsman himself, stated in their resignation

letters that the EPA has covered up the existence of deadly pollution in the

area of the destroyed World Trade Center towers in New York.

While this issue is debated, emergency workers who were sent to the scene and

residents of Lower Manhattan are developing serious, and in some cases, life

threatening health problems.

Dust and smoke rising from the World Trade Center site September 27, 2001

(Photos by Bri courtesy Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA))

We don't even hear much about the area around the World Trade Center towers -

or Ground Zero as it was dubbed by the news media - on the TV news or in the

newspapers any longer. From the point of view of the corporate controlled

mainstream media, the story is old. But for some firefighters and other

personnel who worked or are still working at the scene, the trauma of the

terrorist attacks has now become very personal as their own health is

threatened.

At a New York public hearing in February, Hugh Kaufman, then chief

investigator for the EPA's Ombudsman Office, told a group of scientists,

residents, and small business owners that he believed the EPA was

deliberately not testing the air quality in the World Trade Center area

properly and covering up the reasons why.

" I believe EPA did not do that because they knew it would come up not safe

and so they are involved in providing knowingly false information to the

public about safety, " Kaufman said at the hearing.

While the EPA continues to claim that the air around the site is safe, scores

of rescue workers, cleanup crews, and residents are reporting respiratory

problems. Many believe something in the air from the collapse of the towers

is making them sick.

U.S. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes the site, said at a

public meeting he called at the Federal Courthouse in Lower Manhattan, " It's

remarkable. Either they have something to hide or they don't give a damn. "

In November, 2001, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman issued an order to

dissolve the ombudsman's position, an office created to give the public a

forum for complaints about the agency's actions. The Congressional order that

established the office expired last fall, and she decided not to ask for

renewal. In light of what we are now learning of the effects of the Bush

administration on the EPA, it is no surprise that the public oversight

function would be eliminated.

Many workers from FEMA, New York Fire Fighters and Urban Search and Rescue

teams wore no protective masks.

The risks have been greatly magnified for many residents, rescue workers, and

cleanup crews, because many did not wear any breathing protection sufficient

to protect their lungs at ground zero and in the surrounding community. In

fact, many day laborers, including large numbers of immigrants who spoke

little or no English, were hired to clean up buildings covered with toxic

dust.

We won't hear about their ailments on the TV evening news.

Not widely reported in the news media is the fact that the National

Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) gathered data early on about the

pollution levels at the site. The Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging

Spectrometer (AVIRIS), a scientific instrument designed to view the site in

many different wavelengths, was flown on an aircraft by the Jet Propulsion

Laboratory and NASA over the World Trade Center area on September 16, 18, 22,

and 23, 2001.

USGS map of hot spots at the World Trade Center site on September 16 created

by imaging spectroscopy mapping. (Photo courtesy USGS)

A two person crew from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collected samples of

dusts and debris from more than 35 localities within a distance of one

kilometer from the World Trade Center site on the evenings of September 17

and 18, 2001.

While not by any means a complete study, the data showed elevated levels of

asbestos and many other pollutants, including the heavy metals, aluminum,

chromium, antimony, molybdenum, and barium.

Government officials have tried to downplay the asbestos threat by claiming

that mostly chrysotile asbestos, a form of the mineral considered to be less

carcinogenic than other forms, was found. The USGS document describing the

results of their tests points out that such a claim, " has not been

universally accepted by the scientific community. " But it is convenient

politically.

Rescue and recovery operations at the collapsed World Trade Center, September

27, 2001

What studies done to date will not show are the localized toxic clouds of

multiple substances that have been formed as millions of pounds of chemical

compounds from the debris combine in unexpected ways. Many rescue and cleanup

workers feel they have become ill from these invisible toxic clouds.

A reader of my weekly commentaries contacted me about her friend and

colleague, a rescue worker from a fire department in another state who was

ordered to the World Trade Center right after the disaster. She became

progressively sicker soon after this work and has been shuttled from doctor

to doctor.

A bone marrow aspiration revealed a huge level of toxic mercury in her system

that could only have gotten there from an intense outside exposure. The only

place she could have gotten such an exposure was at the World Trade Center.

Increased pressure inside her skull has developed, and she is having severe

headaches, nausea, and nosebleeds. Her friend reported to me that, " She has a

horrible rash all over her body. She has horrible cramps in her legs and

back. Her lung capacity is greatly diminished and she has had major changes

in her vision, and was told she is going blind. The government doctor who was

sent to treat her told her to take a six month leave of absence and get her

life in order because in six months she would no longer be able to perform

her duties as a firefighter. "

The supervisor of this 12 year veteran rescue worker told her " all of this

medical testing is fine, as long as it does not get in the way of you doing

your job. " With the EPA downplaying any toxic effects, she is getting little

sympathy from agencies and insurance companies.

Former EPA Ombudsman at an evidentiary hearing in Colorado,

2000. (Photo courtesy EPA)

In EPA Ombudsman 's Earth Day resignation letter, he accused EPA

Administrator Whitman of withholding data about the toxic air at the World

Trade Center for personal gain. He discovered that Whitman is married to a

man who served for years as an officer of Citigroup and who now manages about

$800 million of the firm's investments.

said he later discovered that Citigroup owns Traveler's Insurance, the

insurance company of many buildings in World Trade Center area. He feels that

because Whitman issued a statement assuring people that everything was fine,

Traveler's saved a lot of money by not having to pay claims.

These accusations are now being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department.

While studies and investigations continue, people suffer from an

environmental catastrophe. I challenge a group of attorneys to come forward,

find the rescue and cleanup workers who have been poisoned by working at the

World Trade Center site, and force the government to accept responsibility

for their health care.

We will never end terrorism in the world if we can't eradicate injustice and

greed from our own government agencies, political leaders, and industries.

RESOURCES

1. See the complete USGS report on NASA's flight over the World Trade Center

at: http://greenwood.cr.usgs.gov/pub/open-file-reports/ofr-01-0429/

2. See a collection of links related to health effects from the World Trade

Center cleanup by the New York Committee on Occupational Health & Safety at:

http://www.qc.edu/CBNS/WTChealthinfo.html

3. Read the full story about the EPA ombudsman's resignation at:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/67576_ombudsman24.shtml

4. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them.

Demand that they reveal the true nature of the danger at the World Trade

Center site and compensate all injured workers, emergency personnel, and

residents. " If you know your Zip code, you can find them at:

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html

5. See a fact sheet on pollutants at the World Trade Center site from the NY

Committee on Occupational Health & Safety at:

http://www.nycosh.org/wtc-catastrophe-factsheet.pdf

6. Visit the website of the New York Environmental Law and Justice Project.

They want the area to be declared a Superfund site. See their activities at:

http://www.nyenvirolaw.org/WTC/WTC-index.htm

7. See a " USA Today " story about the anxiety over toxic substances at the WTC

site at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/02/07/usat-wtc-acov.htm

8. Visit a collection of news reports on this issue on Immune Web, a website

for people who suffer from environmental diseases, at:

http://www.immuneweb.org/911/news/

8. Read a critique of the EPA studies by " Worker's World " at:

http://www.workers.org/ww/2002/pollute0307.php

{Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and teacher in Seattle and the

author of " Healing Our World, A Journey from the Darkness Into the Light, "

available at: http://www.xlibris.com/HealingOurWorld.html. Please send your

thoughts, comments, and visions to him at: jackie@... and

visit his website at: http://www.healingourworld.com}