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News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
EPA to Reduce Testing of Ground Zero
In a slap in the face to resident of New York City, EPA released yesterday a reduced testing plan for contaminants released in the collapse of the World Trade Center. EPA backed away from initial broader testing plan that included parts of Brooklyn and areas north of Canal Street in Manhattan. From the Washington Post:
The fires at Ground Zero burned for three months, and western Brooklyn sat directly within the smoke-and-dust plume from the World Trade Center. But EPA officials said that their tests have not been able to distinguish between World Trade Center contamination and the dust and detritus of normal urban life.
"We would prefer to go further, but the science won't let us," said E. Timothy Oppelt, an EPA official who has chaired an expert technical review panel intended to guide the testing. "We can't be whimsical."
The EPA also announced Tuesday that it is shutting down Oppelt's review panel -- which includes toxicologists, doctors, environmentalists and residents. The committee was supposed to meet monthly but has not convened since July.
The panel will hold a final meeting in December, and that meeting will be shorter than usual.
"It's crucial for this panel to continue," said Suzanne Mattei, New York City executive of the Sierra Club, which has issued several studies on Ground Zero-related contamination. "If we can't get a proper response after a disaster of this magnitude, what's the point of having a federal government?"
In a statement on the testing, Sen. Hilary Clinton lamented that "[t]he panel has not even begun to meet its mandate to identify unmet public health needs," she said. More on
EPA's testing plans and the panel.
Posted by Genevieve Smith
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