Lower Manhattan Residents: Is My Apartment Safe?

New York, NY —

Studies of pollution and hazardous substances in the outdoor air around the World Trade Center site show it's back to pre-September 11th levels. But the air people are breathing in their homes and workplaces is still a concern for many. A report by the environmental group, the Natural Resouces Defense Council, criticizes the city for its response to the problem. The report will be discussed this morning during air quality hearings, which Senator Hillary Clinton is conducting. WNYC's Amy Eddings reports.

It was early October, less than a month since the World Trade Center collapsed. Angry, jittery residents and workers in Lower Manhattan had filled a Wall Street hotel ballroom to confront disaster officials. With graphic language, and heartfulet emotion, they tried to explain their plight. This woman's story was typical.

Woman: I have a terrace full of soot. I have asthma. I have concerns about what is in the soot. My building manager recommended to me to go to a hardware store and rent a machine and do it myself. I'd like to know what we can do about that. I have since personally called FEMA, and they told me not to open my terrace door, and they told me not to clean my apartment! That they have to send someone there with special equipment to take care of this! This is serious! This is not a joke! And we don't know what the hell to do! There are old people out there with buckets, washing this shit all over the place! (applause)

The answer, given by the EPA's Bill Muszynski, also proved typical.

Bill Muszynski, former acting regional director, Environmental Protection Agency: You're not going to like the first part of the answer. And that is that, we're not -- we don't have the authority to clean individual apartments.
Another official: With all these other agencies: does anybody here think that's part of your mandate? (No response…the audience buzzes.)

Eric Goldstein: Residents who are living in the immediate vicinity of the Ground Zero site were essentially left to their own devices.

Eric Goldstein is an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. He says the government's response to the concerns of people living and working near the World Trade Center was inadequate.

Goldstein: On almost every important question, many local residents were turning to government and unable to get answers.

Goldstein is testifying at Senator Clinton's air quality hearings today. He is the author of a study of the government's response to what he calls the unprecedented environmental issues created by the collapse of the Twin Towers. While he gives high marks to the city's water and outdoor air quality, post-September 11th, Goldstein says there are still serious problems with the indoor air quality. He says it's due to faulty clean-ups...and he blames the city for that.

Goldstein: The city's Department of Environmental Protection and Commissioner Joel Miele appeared to have dropped the ball on this issue. While the city handled so many aspects of the September 11th response admirably, some of these environmental issues slipped through the cracks.

Others think the feds should be doing more. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, who's a member of the Ground Zero Elected Officials Task Force, is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct indoor air quality tests and clean-ups.

Jerrold Nadler: we want the testing done by somebody. It should be done by the EPA. It's a federal responsibility. And frankly, they should spend the money.

The EPA is conducting tests -- on outdoor air. The agency says that's what the city asked it to do, while the city took the lead on indoor air quality testing and monitoring. Kathy Callahan, who heads up the EPA's division of environmental planning and protection, acknowledges that the EPA has the authority to muscle in when it thinks the city isn't doing its job. But she says that's not necessary.

Kathy Callahan: They're being cooperative. They're taking our advice when we're suggesting that maybe we can do a little bit more here and there. Hopefully, if we have any to make on the indoor air, they will be responsive also.

So far, city officials say, tests of indoor air quality have not shown results that would indicate long-term health risks. A Health Department survey of thirty buildings last November and December found no elevated asbestos levels in the air. Twenty percent of the survey's dust samples showed low levels of asbestos, but not high enough, officials said, to pose a significant health risk. That seemingly contradicts a private company's tests of two buildings shortly after September 11th, showing high asbestos levels in the dust.

Meanwhile, the city's Department of Environmental Protection defends its handling of indoor air quality concerns. It issued public notices, advising building owners to contact the department's help line with questions. And DEP spokesman Charles Sturcken says agency officials have been telling the public for months that if residents have a concern about the way their clean-up was handled, they can call the DEP and its inspectors will assess the contractor's data. So far, Sturcken says, only seven queries have been received.

Charles Sturcken: We stand ready, if anybody has a question about the air quality in their individual apartment, they can call the agency and we'll respond.

But critics say the louder, clearer, message from the government was that indoor air quality clean-up issues were not their responsibility. Councilmember Alan Gerson, who took office in January, says people call, not knowing what to do.

Councilmember Alan Gerson: My office has been inundated -- and I emphasize inundated -- with call after call of residents in tears who can't afford the equipment, who can't get a hold of it, who are confused, who don’t understand. This is a public disater which deserves the kind of public response, not the kind of self certification, dumping the entire onus on the private sector, which is what is happening now.

Groups such as the Ground Zero Elected Officials Task Force, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the City Council's Environmental Protection Committee, are calling for a single, government agency to oversee indoor air quality testing, monitoring, and follow-up near the World Trade Center. They believe this would address people's concerns, and ease confusion. So far, though, this hasn't happened. In the days after September 11th, environmental agencies divvied up responsibilites, such as water and outdoor air quality testing, and hazardous waste removal. Doctor Jessica Leighton, with the city's Department of Health, says the arrangement is effective, and draws on the expertise of each agency.

Jessica Leighton: And it was, really, an amazing collaboration that these agencies probably have never spoken together every day for so long a time. There was an amazing amount of like, okay, you can't do that? We'll take that on. That's just the way it worked. We all saw ouselves in this together, and working on a team, and making sure it got done.

But NRDC's Eric Goldstein thinks this arrangement is inefficient, and lacks accountability. He also believes the very leadership stayle that elevated former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to the status of hero also made it hard for state and federal agencies to assert themselves more fully.

Goldstein: With the mayor and his top deputies in control of the whole situation, it made it extremely diffiuclt for other state and federal agencies to step in when they saw things slipping through the cracks.

The Office of Emergency Management, which led the city's response to the World Trade Center attacks, denied requests for comment. A spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the city is working hand in hand with state and federal agencies. Meanwhile, another hearing, before the City Council's Environmental Protection Committee, will be held on Wednesday. And downtown residents and workers continue to assess for themselves what their risks are, and what they're willing to live with.

For WNYC, I'm Amy Eddings.