US Environmental Protection Agency

World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel

 

 

 

 

 

May 24, 2004

 

St. John's University
101 Murray Street

NY, NY 10007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Testimony of Paul Stein, Health & Safety Chairperson

PEF Division 199

On behalf of the NYS Public Employees Federation, AFL-CIO

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On behalf of the New York State Public Employees Association, I thank you for the opportunity to give testimony before the World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel. My name is Paul Stein.  I am the Health & Safety Committee Chairperson of Division 199 of the New York State Public Employees Federation, AFL-CIO, popularly known as PEF.  My union represents 52,000 professional, scientific and technical employees of the State of New York.  About 2,000 of our members currently work in lower Manhattan.  I am here today to speak on behalf of approximately 350 PEF members:  most of whom work for the New York State Department of Health (including Health Research, Inc.), some of whom work for the New York State Public Service Commission, and all of whom have been told they are being moved to offices at 90 Church Street, directly adjacent to the World Trade Center site.

PEF has serious health concerns about our members working at 90 Church Street, both because of the environmental hazards posed by the massive construction and additional demolition that will take place at and around the World Trade Center site over the next decade, and because of the massive contamination of 90 Church Street caused by the events of September 11^th and the absence of a comprehensive effort to test and clean all surrounding buildings.  We urge this body to do everything in its power to see to it that all buildings contaminated by the World Trade Center disaster, both residential and commercial, are thoroughly tested for a wide range of contaminants, and then, that all contaminated buildings are appropriately cleaned up.  The haphazardness of both the testing and the cleanup of the various structures in lower Manhattan impacts all those who live and work in the neighborhood.  90 Church Street appears to have undergone more extensive testing and cleanup than other comparable buildings.  However, 90 Church Street  was more substantially contaminated than practically all other buildings that have been or will be re-occupied, and there were some omissions in the testing and cleaning protocols employed by the landlord of 90 Church Street.

At the April 12^th session of this panel, you heard testimony from Charlotte Hitchcock, Esq., Health and Safety Officer of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, UAW Local 2325 about the damage and severe contamination of the offices of The Legal Aid Society and the entire building at 90 Church Street caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center towers and of 7 World Trade Center.  Large quantities of asbestos, mold, lead dust, PCB’s, dioxin, bacteria, and heavy metals permeated 90 Church Street.  The Legal Aid Society did not return to their offices at 90 Church Street.  New York State intends to move us to the three floors formerly leased by The Legal Aid Society and one floor formerly leased by the U.S. Postal Service.

While the focus has been on looking backward at the hazards associated with the events of 9/11, we ask that you also look forward to anticipate hazards generated by the massive construction of the new World Trade Center and related construction and demolition projects.  Our members are afraid of moving to 90 Church Street.  People with asthma and other respiratory conditions are especially fearful.  We fear that particulates and fumes from the present and future World Trade Center reconstruction will have a negative affect on our health.  We fear that the demolition of the Deutsche Bank building and of Fiterman Hall at the Borough of Manhattan Community College will expose us to toxic substances.   We also fear that there may be contaminants lingering in 90 Church Street or in other buildings in the neighborhood that have yet to be cleaned up or even identified.

There was a major building-wide testing and cleanup program at 90 Church Street.  Tens of millions of dollars were spent on this effort.  But despite all the money spent on testing, internal demolition, decontamination, and renovation at 90 Church Street, there were some omissions.  For example, although all of the air distribution ducts throughout the building were removed and have been or will be replaced, no testing protocol or clearance testing results for the air-handling units on each floor (which have not been replaced) exist.  If there had been uniform environmental testing protocols established and enforced by the EPA following 9/11, testing omissions such as this would be less likely to have occurred.

The early pronouncements by the EPA declaring it safe to breathe the air around the World Trade Center site, which were later found to be untrue, have contributed to a general skepticism among our members about all statements by governmental entities seeking to reassure us that our health will not be compromised if we work at 90 Church Street.  The establishment of a comprehensive testing and cleanup program by the EPA for all structures in lower Manhattan and other affected areas, with a transparent oversight process, would do much to insure that workers are safe working in lower Manhattan.  It would also do much to allow workers to feel that they are safe working in lower Manhattan.  Because rescue workers, recovery workers, cleanup workers, office workers, and residents were given so much inaccurate or misleading information after 9/11, which they relied on to the detriment of their health, it is critical that the City, State, and Federal governments get it right this time.  This panel can play a major role in ensuring that the Federal government carries out its responsibility to protect the public health.

PEF believes it is important not only to ensure proper testing and cleanup of environmental contamination from 9/11, but to ensure that workers and residents are protected from the health hazards inherent in the World Trade Center construction project and related transportation projects.  PEF retained John Tiffany, a nationally recognized indoor air quality consultant, to prepare a report on how best to protect State workers who are moved to 90 Church Street.  His recommendations have been adopted by PEF and by the Civil Service Employees Association, which also represents a number of the New York State workers scheduled to be moved to 90 Church Street.