Panel Will Study EPA's Actions After Sept. 11

by Etta Sanders

A panel of independent experts and one community resident has been set up to look into the agency's handling of the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks and assess any further actions to be taken. Officials of the Environmental Protection Agency will head the panel.

The mission of the 17-member panel, announced earlier this month by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and the EPA, will also be to synthesize government and privately gathered data about exposures, identify remaining risks, recommend how health registries can be improved and identify other next steps.

"New Yorkers deserve a firmer assurance that they are safe in their homes," Clinton said, "and I am hopeful that this panel will lead to that point."

The 17-member panel will hold its first meeting on March 31 to discuss the processes and protocols they will use during the 18-24 month investigation. Those discussions will likely result in the retesting of anywhere from a few hundred to a thousand area apartments for lingering environmental affects of the Sept. 11 attacks, possibly by June 2004.

"Right now we're looking at the range of possible numbers of apartments to be sampled, 100, 200, 300, 400 etc., to find what is in terms of the statistics the best level to operate at," said Dr. Paul Gilman, EPA Science Advisor and Assistant Administrator for Research and Development, who will chair the panel.

Clinton applauded the establishment of the panel, the results of negotiations between her office, the EPA and the White House, as a "good faith effort. But she also urged that the investigation include any contamination of commercial spaces, as well as residences.

The agency is also looking to assuage public mistrust after an Inspector General's report last summer that concluded that EPA clean-up efforts had been inadequate and its conclusions about safety were premature. "Obviously this is an important undertaking not just for the information we obtain to answer questions, but also to repair some of the lost trust that has occurred," Clinton said.

Catherine McVay Hughes, the panel's community liaison, who resides on Broadway close to the WTC site, said that while the mistakes of the past cannot be undone, she is hopeful that something positive and constructive will come out of panel's work.

"I think it's really important as a community liaison to provide that first hand experience that residents such as myself went through," she said, "and the frustration that some of the residents had with the whole process."

The March 31 meeting will be open to comment by members of the public who register by March 23. To register, go to www.epa.gov/wtc/panel.