World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel

US Environmental Protection Agency

World Trade Center Expert Technical

Review Panel

July 12, 2005

St. John’s University

101 Murray Street

New York, New York

Comments of Paul Stein, Health & Safety Committee Chairperson

PEF Division 199, NYS Public Employees Federation, AFL-CIO

Introduction

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, (PEF). My union represents approximately 53,000 professional, scientific and technical employees of the State of New York. I speak today on behalf of several hundred PEF members who work at 90 Church Street, directly adjacent to the World Trade Center site.

To be very blunt, we believe the current EPA testing plan is doomed to failure because of basic design flaws. It is not too late to correct these defects and present a plan that will accurately and comprehensively test the affected area and lead to a proper cleanup.

We endorse the entire testing plan critique presented by the representatives of the World Trade Center Community/Labor Coalition. In our comments, we shall focus on only two key issues: 1. access to workplaces; and 2. testing and cleanup of locations within buildings that the current plan mistakenly labels “inaccessible.”

Access to Workplaces

Approximately 2000 members of the Public Employees Federation work in the Lower Manhattan area that is currently targeted for environmental testing. You will find PEF members at: 25 Beaver Street, 75 Broad Street, 120 Broadway, 90 Church Street, 199 Church Street, 22 Cortlandt Street, 20 Exchange Place, 345 Hudson Street, 59 Maiden Lane, 80 Maiden Lane, 19 Rector Street, 1 State Street, 175 Varick Street, 245 West Houston Street, and 123 William Street. All of these PEF members work in office buildings that are owned by private landlords, with the exception of only two buildings, one of which is subject to a ground lease held by a private real estate investment partnership. Based on the comments made by several Panel members at the May 24, 2005 meeting of this body, I think it is safe to say that many of you, like us, doubt that landlords will voluntarily agree to having the EPA test their buildings for contamination. Only the minority of buildings and offices that have been thoroughly cleaned may allow EPA testing, thus skewing the sample, invalidating the testing plan, and preventing contaminated workplaces from receiving the cleanup that is required. And even the few buildings that have already done major testing and decontamination may choose to deny further testing, in order to avoid the risk of discovery of contamination that may have been missed.

We believe the same avoidance would hold true for employers, who would not wish to expose themselves to legal liability, business disruption, and difficulty recruiting and retaining workers, if contamination were found on their premises. As long as landlords and employers have veto power over environmental testing of their premises, workers will not be protected and the EPA testing and cleanup plan will be a sham. We reject the suggestion that recourse to OSHA, NIOSH, and PESH is a viable alternative to EPA testing, based on the lack of applicable regulatory standards for the contaminants or form of contaminants at issue.

Testing and Cleanup of So-called “Inaccessible” Areas

PEF members at the New York State Department of Health regularly inspect and investigate complaints at both inpatient and outpatient healthcare facilities in Lower Manhattan, among other places. Our member who are sanitarians must enter ceiling plenums, electrical closets, and spaces behind appliances as a regular part of their responsibilities to evaluate HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and life safety systems and pest control measures at regulated facilities. To label such areas as “inaccessible” and to hold these and similar parts of a workplace to a different standard for testing and cleanup is both misleading and dangerous. Any testing plan that effectively excludes our sanitarians and others who accompany them from the protection to which all workers are entitled is fatally flawed.

We urge the EPA to do everything in its power, in cooperation with other Federal, State, and City agencies that have relevant legal authority, to see to it that: 1. no landlord or employer may opt out of the EPA environmental testing plan; and 2. elevated levels of contaminants found in any part of a workplace will trigger an appropriate cleanup.