This article was illuminating in quite a few ways. We all know someone who was in some way hurt by the attacks on 9/11, so this whole cover-up is actually pretty angering. If 80% of the EPA’s samples were taken when the residences were professionally cleaned, then how could they even claim them to be accurate? The EPA had an important job to do; their findings effect thousands of people who live in that area. Yet, they totally turned their backs on the people they are supposed to serve. Way to go guys.
The article says that asbestos, lead, glass fibers, and pulverized concrete were exposed in the air when the towers went down and that FEMA and EPA, along with other agencies worked together to monitor these harmful substances. Some residents elected for their homes to be cleaned, but the problem is that they weren’t cleaned in any regulated way – the HVAC systems weren’t checked, obviously something that has to be fixed for future occurrences. This, among other changes, was suggested by the Inspector General.
Yet, the EPA has chosen not to follow them? How can that even happen? They willfully chose to look the other way when it came to expanding the cleanup to north of Canal Street and Brooklyn. It doesn’t seem like a very moral choice. There was also a lack of transparency between what the EPA was doing and what the public knew which makes it hard to get support.
