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--- Begin Message ----Caveat Lector-THE PROGRESS REPORT http://www.progressreport.org by David Sirota, Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin August 19, 2004 Note: Starting tomorrow, The Progress Report is going on a short vacation. If you start to miss us, you can reminisce with old Progress Reports in our archives (http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=124597) . And never fear, regular editions will return to your in-box on August 30. ENVIRONMENT Report Blasts Bush On Ground Zero Cleanup In a strongly worded and minutely detailed report (http://www.sierraclub.com/groundzero/summary.asp) , the Sierra Club charges the Bush administration with " reckless disregard (http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/nyc-sierrareport0819,0,2050379.st ory?coll=ny-nynews-headlines) " for public health in the days and months following the collapse of the World Trade Center. "Many hundreds of people" are sick today, the report states, some debilitatingly so, because of the government's failure to alert the public to obvious health risks, including toxic smoke, asbestos and mercury at Ground Zero. The report concludes: "Much of the exposure that caused these illnesses, sadly, could have been avoided (http://www.sierraclub.com/groundzero/summary.asp) if our federal government had responded to the crisis...with proper concern for the people exposed." The report is the most comprehensive in a litany of evidence suggesting Bush administration officials ignored warnings (http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/131530p-117294c.html) , misinterpreted data and issued a series of overly optimistic (http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/6754648.htm) and unsupported statements about environmental conditions which endangered and in some cases ruined the health of heroic rescue workers and residents in and around Ground Zero. THE EPA WHITEWASH: The day after the World Trade Center collapsed, "a top federal scientist warned in a strongly worded memo (http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/131530p-117294c.html) against the quick reoccupation of buildings in lower Manhattan because of possible dangers from asbestos and other toxic materials." But, unaccountably, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) first press release, on Sept. 13, said the results of sampling were "very reassuring." On Sept. 17, federal and city officials allowed thousands of people to return to lower Manhattan, declaring a day later that "their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe." But EPA Inspector General Nikki Tinsley later admitted, "the EPA had not gathered nearly enough data to make such a sweeping declaration (http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/6754648.htm) ." It was in these days, according to the Sierra Club's report (http://www.sierraclub.com/groundzero/report.pdf) , that New Yorkers near the site were exposed to dangerous levels (http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=90932 5&tw=wn_wire_story) of asbestos, lead, concrete, glass and other debris, including toxic vapors easily assimilated into people's lungs and nasal passenges. But on Oct. 3, the EPA said Ground Zero data through Sept. 30 revealed " no significant health risks (http://www.epa.gov/wtc/summaries/epa-osha01.htm) ." PLEADING IGNORANCE: The Bush administration's only defense for allowing rescue workers and other New Yorkers to expose themselves to harmful chemicals and toxins in the days following 9/11 has been to claim it did not know of the danger. The report categorically refutes that logic. It states, "The hazards posed by the incineration and demolition of the towers were new in scale, but not that new in character. There was a long-standing, accepted body of knowledge about the potential dangers that the federal government ignored. EPA failed to find toxic hazards because it did not look for them (http://www.sierraclub.com/groundzero/summary.asp) ." When private parties, "using technology that the federal government not only knew about but possessed," did find evidence of public health hazards in the area, the EPA failed to revise its sunny, uninformed conclusions. "Leaders in the Bush Administration failed to change their statements of assurance about safety even after it became clear that people were getting sick." LANGUAGE GAMES: When EPA officials did find hazards at Ground Zero, Inspector Tinsley's August report documents several instances where the Bush administration stripped their draft statements of caveats and warnings (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0823-03.htm) before releasing them to the public. For instance, language in an EPA draft stating asbestos levels in some areas were three times higher than national standards was changed to "slightly above the 1 percent trigger for defining asbestos material." In another example, "A warning on the importance of safely handling ground zero cleanup, due to lead and asbestos exposure, was changed to say that...'the general public should be very reassured by initial sampling.'" As for the Sept. 18 statement telling New Yorkers their air and water were safe, agency scientists quoted in Inspector Tinsley's report said "the EPA added reassuring language and deleted words of caution" after it was urged to do so (http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/6754648.htm) by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. COUNCIL RUN BY INDUSTRY INSIDER: And who was the man the Bush administration put in charge of vetting memos to the public about Ground Zero? "The White House changes were the work of James Connaughton (http://www.earthjustice.org/policy/profiles/display.html?Department=Council %20On%20Environmental%20Quality) , chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality... an industry lawyer who represented major asbestos and toxic polluters before his appointment by President Bush (http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/112247p-101268c.html) ." STEPS NOT TAKEN: On 9/14/01, President Bush saluted the firemen and rescue workers at Ground Zero, saying the nation was " on bended knee (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010914-9.html) ...for the workers that work here." But because of his administration's repeated public assurances, the Sierra Club report (http://www.sierraclub.com/groundzero/report.pdf) found myriad steps were not taken which might have insulated those workers from health risks. Throughout the cleanup effort, rescue and recovery workers were given "inadequate safety gear and conflicting messages about the need to use it." When union health officials urged employers to provide safety gear, they encountered resistance. And privately hired dust and debris clean-up workers often had "no protective gear at all." These and other missteps are partially responsible for the adverse health of the "Ground Zero Community" documented in the report. According to the Sierra Club, many of those who worked on the site are now in need of "long-term health monitoring and other help. The federal government, however, has not provided reasonably adequate assistance to these people." WHAT YOU CAN DO: You can sign the Sierra Club's petition here (http://www.sierraclub.com/petition/groundzero/) to ensure the Bush administration finishes the job of cleaning up Ground Zero and provides proper care and monitoring to those at risk of illness from Trade Center pollutants. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. -- Helen Keller www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
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