Protestors Fault Whitman for Too Little, Too Late

By Gloria Jacobs

Christine Todd Whitman, head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, came to Tribeca May 9 to receive a "Breath of Fresh Air" award for her work to reduce the incidence of childhood asthma. But outside the Tribeca Rooftop on Desbrosses Street, where the Children's A.I.R. Foundation was honoring Whitman, some 60 protestors charged her with ignoring the need for clean air in Lower Manhattan.


  

Shouting slogans like "Christy Whitman is no good; she won't clean our neighborhood," some protestors quipped that Whitman should have gotten the "hold your breath award." Despite the EPA's surprise announcement that it would pay for the clean-up of all residences below Canal Street, (see story) the demonstrators, from groups such as 9/11 Environmental Action and the Lower Manhattan Tenants Coalition, called the decision too late, and mostly too little.

Maureen Silverman, an environmental activist and Independence Plaza tenant, faulted the EPA plan for leaving out schools and businesses and omitting provisions for cleaning common areas. She also said the plan encourages spotty cleaning in buildings by relying on individuals to ask for cleanups of their own apartments. If one person calls and another doesn't, Silverman asked, "will that neighbor continue tracking possibly toxic residue through the building?"

"The program is voluntary, and the reason is that we don’t have evidence that there’s a high enough risk to go in and force people to have their apartments cleaned," said Mary Mears, an EPA spokeswoman. "The cleanup that we’re offering is to give residents an added level of assurance. We believe that the risk there now, even without the cleanup, is very low, even for the long term."

Regarding the possibility of dust from apartments that don’t get the government cleaning spreading inside a building, Mears said, "We don’t feel there’s a tremendous amount of dust in the buildings. We don’t feel it’s a volume of dust where it’s moving from one place to another."

Mears said that the EPA recognized the possibility that dust from rooftops or facades might enter apartments, and the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will be cleaning exteriors of buildings where accumulated dust was found during inspections earier this year. (see list of apts)

The EPA has said that the cleanup program could be expanded if it’s deemed necessary.

"We’re going to be somewhat flexible, and see how the program goes, and we will decide along with FEMA whether there are other catergories of places, like senior citizens centers, that can or should be included in the future," Mears said. "Our first focus on residential properties, but we will be looking if we need to expand to schools or businesses in the area. Schools have been extensively tested, and all evidence that the city has shows there’s not any kind of big risk in schools, but it’s still on the table."

While ventilation systems are not included in the indoor cleanup program, the EPA, together with the DEP, is bringing in a consultant to review the procedures used by building owners to clean heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, to see if they were sufficient, Mears said.

The activists called for the National Contingency Plan to supercede the current EPA plan. The NCP was created by President Clinton, and authorizes the EPA to respond to acts of terrorism. Under the NCP, everything – schools, businesses, and public hallways and ducts would be tested for toxins and cleaned appropriately, said Barbara Einzig, a tenant of Gateway Plaza. But Whitman and President Bush have to decide that the situation calls for the NCP.

According to Diane Lapson, another Independence Plaza tenant, anything less than the NCP isn't good enough. "Nobody made [the neighborhood cleanup] a priority," she said. "That makes me angry, but also sad. They ignored us."

Downtown activists plan to keep up the pressure on the EPA. Representatives of 9/11 Environmental Action will be lobbying in Washington on May 22, urging legislators to expand the testing and cleanup efforts.