Report: EPA misled public on Ground Zero air quality
A report released last week by the EPA's Inspector General found that the White House instructed EPA officials to reassure New Yorkers that air in the vicinity of Ground Zero was safe to breathe after the calamitous Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, even though EPA did not collect samples of pulverized concrete and glass particulate until ten to 15 days after the attack, and the results were not known until early October.
EPA initially monitored levels of asbestos, lead, PCBs, dioxins, various heavy metals and assorted chemicals specified in the Clean Air Act in downtown Manhattan and in Brooklyn, but not both large and fine particulates of ground concrete and glass that most concern physicians and researchers.