EPA: 9/11 Toxic Air Drifted Away From Ground Zero

[Guest guest]

EPA: 9/11 Toxic Air Drifted Away From Ground Zero

Experts Say Contamination Stretched At Least 1 Mile

_Marcia Kramer_ (http://wcbstv.com/bios/local_bio_203134125.html)

Reporting

(CBS) NEW YORK Sforazo was one of many construction workers who toiled

at ground zero without being told the air quality was bad.

" We feel there was no regard for any of us, " Sforazo said.

A top Environmental Protection Agency official told CBS 2 Monday Sforazo may

be right. The agency's own testing showed that.

" As late as the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002 the experts were

measuring unhealthy air a mile north of the pile at levels higher than the

Kuwaiti

oil field fires, " said Hugh Kaufman, a senior policy analyst for the EPA.

That means that people living and working 20 blocks north of Liberty Street

could have been breathing contaminated air for months.

But that's not all. A never made public interview by the EPA inspector

general with then-EPA administrator Christie Whitman's spokeswoman, Tina

Kreisher,

is the smoking gun.

" When asked whether there was a conscious effort to reassure the public, Ms.

Kreisher said there was such an effort, " according to the document. " This

emphasis 'came from the administrator (Whitman) and the White House,' "

" Because of her actions and those of the White House thousands of people are

sick and some are dead, " Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-Manhattan, said.

Congressman Nadler was a special prosecutor appointed. Especially since

other documents show Whitman was supposed to recuse herself from anything

having

to do with the Port Authority because she or her family owned Port Authority

bonds. The Port Authority owned the World Trade Center.

" Anything regarding air quality or anything else with regard to the World

Trade Center site was at that point a conflict of interest, " Rep. Nadler said.

Added Sforazo: " We honestly feel like we are disposable refuse. "

[Guest guest]

We lived a couple of miles away from Ground Zero a the time and there was smoke

up where we lived a long, long time. We kept the windows shut all the time and

ran the air. Experts weren't needed to tell us how bad the air quality was.

Anyone who lived in Manhattan at the time knew from the smell that there was

some nasty shit down there.

But I feel very badly especially for the rescue and construction workers. They

should have been protected better -- well, protected AT ALL. But it is kind of

a weird thing to hear someone say they weren't told the air quality was bad. I

mean, it was obvious the air quality was bad. But people did what they were

doing anyway without regards for their safety because, well, it was just the

right thing to do. They should have been protected. There was a point, not in

the first period of time, but at least a few weeks later, when they DID say the

air quality was okay, and that was a big lie. It's really wrong and horrible,

and it's being made worse because nothing is being done about it.

I had wanted to go but I knew with my asthma problems I would be putting myself

in worse danger plus I wouldn't be much good to anyone down there if I couldn't

breathe.

Lori