EPA Reponse to 9/11 Influenced by the White House - August 25, 2003 Vol.4 No.17

August 25, 2003 Vol.4 No.17:

Published: 08/25/2003

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EPA Reponse to 9/11 Influenced by the White House

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Inspector General released a report Aug. 21 revealing that EPA communications to the public immediately after 9/11 were misleading. Statements made by EPA did not fully represent the data the agency possessed, and were strongly influenced by the White House. The report follows an investigation by the Inspector General into EPA’s overall response to 9/11.

The report examined several news releases to the public in the weeks after 9/11 and found several EPA statements were deceptive. All statements to the media from EPA were required to be cleared by the National Security Council via the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). EPA accepted all of the edits CEQ made to the draft releases. News releases omitted important information on risks, such as potential health effects for vulnerable populations like children and the elderly. In their place, more reassuring statements were added.

In addition to the White House editing, pressure to allay national security concerns and to reopen Wall Street overrode concerns about gaps in data and analysis. A Sept. 18, 2001, announcement reported that the air around the World Trade Center site was safe to breathe; the report finds that EPA “did not have sufficient data and analyses to make such a blanket statement.”

EPA’s acting administrator, Marianne Lamont Horinko, responded with irritation to the investigation and formal rebuttals are contained in the report. She claims CEQ has an “appropriate role” to play in coordination of information, and at the time EPA wanted to focus on reassuring the public. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) are calling for further investigations into the role the White House played in censoring EPA.

This adds to the administration’s disturbing record of skewing science and information to suit its interests. The Democratic staff of the House Committee on Government Reform recently released a report examining the Bush administration’s handling of scientific matters. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has launched a website to track how the administration is interfering in science.