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09/04/2003 Archived Entry: "You were saying, Mrs. Whitman?"
You were saying, Mrs. Whitman?
Geez, it seems like just a couple of days ago that Christie Whitman was defending those 'reassuring' EPA reports about air quality in Lower Manhattan.
Well, now the EPA's chief watchdog has put the lie to Whitman's defense. Oh, and compare what the original EPA memos said, against what the White House made them say.
IN THE WAKE of 9/11, there were serious concerns about whether the air around Ground Zero was filled with toxins - unsafe for workers and residents.But by Sept. 18, 2001, many New Yorkers were back in their apartments and on the job. Partly because of a press release that day from the Environmental Protection Agency reassuring New Yorkers that “their air is safe to breathe.”
Was that press release misleading? According to Nikki Tinsley, “It was surely not telling all of the truth.”
In an exclusive interview, Inspector General Tinsley, the EPA’s top watchdog, tells NBC News the agency simply did not have sufficient data to justify such a reassurance.
In fact, a new report by Tinsley’s office says, at the time, more than 25 percent of dust samples collected before Sept. 18 showed unsafe levels of asbestos. And the EPA had no test results at all on PCBs, dioxins or particulates in the air that can cause respiratory problems.
Tinsley said, “The EPA did not give the people of New York complete information. It had put together press releases that were more informative than those that it ultimately released.”
So what happened? Tinsley’s report charges, in the crucial days after 9/11, the White House changed EPA press releases to “add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones.”
-- Sept. 13: The EPA draft release — never released to the public — said: EPA “testing terrorized sites for environmental hazards.” The White House changed that to EPA “reassures public about environmental hazards.”
-- Sept. 16: The EPA draft said: “Recent samples of dust ... on Water Street show higher levels of asbestos.”
The White House version: “New samples confirm ... ambient air quality meets OSHA [government] standards” ... and “is not a cause for public concern.”
And the White House left out entirely the warning “that air samples raise concerns for cleanup workers and office workers near Water St.”
This is turning into The Story That Won't Go Away. Christie Whitman ought to be ashamed. And then jailed.
Addendum: This is a piece of Senator Clinton's public announcement, which I missed last week:
Speaking on the steps of City Hall, Clinton said she had sent a letter to President George W. Bush Tuesda asking for a thorough and expeditious accounting of what transpired in the White House after the attacks, including the names of officials who changed EPA information.[...]
"Maybe after the first couple of days nobody could know," Clinton said, referring to the EPA statements after Sept. 11. "But a week later? Two weeks later? Two months later? Six months later? Give me a break. They knew and they were going to tell us the truth and the White House told them not to tell us the truth.
"Now they should come to New York and face us," she said.
Keep in mind, they will come to New York - during next year's GOP Convention. Odds are they won't 'face us,' though - these thuggish bastards don't feel they should be called to account on anything.
It should be the business of every New Yorker to make sure the world is made aware, and what better time and place than King George's Big Coronation Party? Click here to join those who are already getting ready.
Replies: 3 people speak up
Christie's husband is a big-wig with a big insurance company that had much to lose if that air was declaired UN-safe.
So she gets to kill two birds with one stone; she gets to be a good republican by siding with big business to the detriment of New Yorker's health, AND she gets to be a good republican wife and cover her old man's ass for him.
What if America had a free press?
Posted by capnmike @ 09/04/2003 01:13 PM NY
my question is: why did anyone believe a single damn word that came out of these murdering liars in the first place? i lived in ohio at the time, and i could tell that the air was unsafe just by looking at my television. if the air is filled with thick grey soot, the air is not safe to breath. its pretty simple to figure out. why does the bush regime even have an environmental protection agency? seems like a lie brought to you by the ministry of truth to me. even if these bastards wont face us, we can still face them. we just need to figure out where there weak point is and hit it over and over again. this EPA issue may turn out to be one of them, especially if new yorkers can get it together to stop acting like victims and get really pissed off and do something.
Posted by justin @ 09/04/2003 01:47 PM NY
As someone who moved to NYC 15 years ago from Colorado, I have had the unfortunate experience of watching this once-great Democrat area get bamboozled by allegedly "moderate" Republicans like CTW and Pataki (who's hosting a fundraiser for everyone's favorite bug killer, Tom DeLay). At the end of the day, they all crawl into bed with the same right-wing kooks who call the shots in the GOP. Shame on anybody who voted for them thinking they would do anything other than obey their greedy, short-sighted masters.
Posted by Blue State Liberal @ 09/04/2003 06:41 PM NY
