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September 11th Environmental Hypocrisy
Fair Use Statement
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Source: ENS.
See Also: EPA Whitman's Ties to CitiGroup and EPA Obmudsman Resigns.
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."
-- Benjamin Franklin
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In EPA Ombudsman Robert Martin'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.
Martin 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/.
9. 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@healingourworld.com and visit his website at:
http://www.healingourworld.com}
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