Breathing free

To: Retort
From: The no-risk-to-public-health dept

GROUND ZERO: "TOXIC ZONE"
The New York Environmental Law & Justice Project filed a request under the
Freedom of Information Act to obtain the results of EPA tests on air, dust
and water samples from Ground Zero, the vast crater of rubble where the
World Trade Center stood. The samples, taken between Sept. 16 and Oct. 16,
cast a dubious light on official downplaying of the health risks to workers
and local residents.

The tests found dust with up to 5% asbestos. Dust above 1% must be treated
as asbestos under federal regs, mandating use of respirators and other
protective gear. A photo on the front page of the Oct. 22 New York Times
showed workers at Ground Zero without respirators, or with them hanging
uselessly around their necks.

Sulfur dioxide gas in the air on several days was "unhealthy for sensitive
groups," "unhealthy" or "very unhealthy" (0.6 parts per million), and once
even reached "hazardous" (0.9 ppm). Under EPA own guidelines, this level
should have triggered warnings for asthmatics and people with heart
conditions to stay indoors. There was no warning to downtown residents.

Benzene and other toxic organic chemicals give the smoke its distinctive
odor. Benzene was found in amounts up to 40 times over the occupational
limit of 1 ppm several days. These standards are set for healthy adults
working an 8-hour day--not for children and the elderly breathing the air
throughout the day. Benzene is linked to leukemia and bone marrow damage.

Carbon monoxide was found at 19 ppm, well above the National Ambient Air
Quality Standard. Levels of dioxin in run-off discharged into the Hudson
River from local sewers were five times higher than any previously recorded
in New York harbor. The EPA didn't test for fiberglass, but dust samples
tested by NYELJP ranged from 10 to 57% fiberglass--a substance believed to
be cancerous. (NYELJP press release, Oct. 23, available at
www.nyenvirolaw.org)

Juan Gonzalez reported on the toxic levels in a front-page Daily News
exclusive Oct. 26 under the banner "TOXIC ZONE" The EPA's Mary Mears told
him: "Yes, they are high. But you get a little distance from the plume and
they go dramatically down." When questioned, though, Mears conceded that
shifting winds sometimes blow the plume directly at workers at the site.

The Daily News reported Nov. 1 that parents from several lower Manhattan
schools are fighting to have a barge stocked with WTC debris removed from
Pier 25 on the Hudson River--just behind Stuyvesant High School. Officials
say the area is safe, but parents complain trucks spew toxic dust into the
air when they drop their loads on the barge. Parents threatened to keep
their kids home from school. "We want the barge moved," said Angela
Fremont-Appel of the IS 89 PTA. Said George Olsen of PS 234's PTA: "We don't
want to draw a line in the sand about the barge. But until we know that it's
safe, we're not going back." Frank McCarton of the city Office of Emergency
Management said it was unlikely the barge would be removed.

RIOT AT GROUND ZERO
Angry New York City firefighters fought with police at the WTC site Nov. 2
while protesting the city's decision to cut back the number of their
comrades searching for remains at Ground Zero. 11 firefighters and one
retired captain were arrested, and five police suffered minor injuries. The
confrontation erupted when over 1,000 marchers organized by the fire unions
were blocked from entering Ground Zero for a silent prayer, and pushed
against police barricades. Arrested firefighters were taken to Harlem's 28th
precinct out of fear that protests could continue if they were held
downtown. Firefighters also helped at least one colleague escape arrest,
pulling away a protester who ran off with one wrist cuffed. Peter Gorman,
president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, representing FDNY
lieutenants and captains, blamed high-ranking police for the riot. "A few
police brass provoked what happened," he told Newsday Nov. 4. "It was a
peaceful march for a just cause."

On Nov. 6, Newsday reported that two leaders of the firefighters union
turned themselves in to face criminal trespass charges in the riot. Thomas
Manley, sergeant-at-arms of the United Firefighters Association said workers
at the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, where the escavated wreckage
is taken for sorting, are finding body parts in the debris. "That is not
acceptable to anyone, whether its a civilian or a firefighter." Manley said
the same police videos used to identify firefighters for prosecution also
shows high-ranking officers provoked the melee. "If you look at the unedited
tape, they were spraying mace and pushing firefighters." Nine of the 15 now
held were arrested based on the claims of officers of sergeant rank or
above, court records show. "This is just the definitive evidence of what we
said in the beginning, and we'll say it again: This was set off by the white
shirts," UFOA's Mary Steadman said, referring to police commanders.

City medical technicians, who lost 2 in the disaster, also attended the
protest. "We're not asking for any more than the ability to honor our fallen
heroes," Pat Bahnken, president of the Uniformed Emergency Medical Services
union told the rally. 6 ambulance workers from private hospitals and
volunteer companies were also lost.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani insisted the Ground Zero cut-back was a safety
measure. 250 firefighters are missing in the disaster, out of a total of 340
lost (New York 1, Nov. 2). On Nov. 7, Giuliani blinked and increased the
number of firefighters from 24 to 50. Before the cut-backs, there had been
64 (New York Times, Nov. 8). In the first two weeks, there were thousands at
the site, as the Fire Department issued an "all-hands" call. Firefighters
from Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and even Tijuana organized volunteer
brigades for New York. Currently, New York firefighters have no contract
with the City, which refuses to meet salary demands (WW3 Report sources).

FED REPORT: "HAZARDOUS" WORK CONDITIONS AT GROUND ZERO
Hundreds of injuries to workers combing through the Ground Zero rubble might
have been prevented had the city been faster to require proper training and
equipment at what is still an "extremely hazardous" work site, says a new
federal report.

"There is no excuse for what I saw," industrial engineer John Moran told
Newsday Oct. 25. Moran investigated working conditions at Ground Zero Sept.
22 to 27 as a consultant to the National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences, an arm of the National Institutes of Health. "[T]here was no
evidence of any safety or health program or plan. It's the worst site I've
ever seen... Very few of the workers were wearing even the most basic
protective equipment." Moran said observers from the federal Occupational
Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) identified 1,002 hazardous "incidents"
at the site from Sept. 21 to Oct. 14, ranging from failures to wear hard
hats and respirators to falls and dangerously rigged cranes. 995
injuries--ranging from blisters and nausea to fractures and severe
burns--were recorded at the site from Sept. 14 to 25. "That's the worst
injury and illness rate from a site I've ever seen," said Moran, who has
inspected over 250 construction and toxic waste sites.

On Nov. 8, Newsday reported the New York state Department of Labor has
opened an investigation into the operation at Fresh Kills landfill, where
hundreds of NYPD detectives are sifting through the WTC rubble. State
spokesperson Betsy McCormack said "proper health and safety precautions are
not being taken." That same day, the New York Times reported OSHA has
recorded 34 broken bones, 441 lacerations, over 1,000 eye injuries and
hundreds of burns, sprains and smashed fingers at Ground Zero to date. From
Sept. 21 to Oct. 7, OSHA observed an average of 43 hazards on the site each
day. Workers clock 12-hour shifts, often 7 days a week.

CLEAN-UP EXPLOITS IMMIGRANT LABOR
The New York state attorney general's office is investigating complaints
that day laborers hired to clear debris from buildings surrounding Ground
Zero have not been paid--sometimes for up to two weeks of work. Day laborers
are frequently illegal immigrants who are promised payment in cash. They
have no formal employment contracts, and they know their employer only
through a crew leader who hires them on a street corner. Officials with the
cleaning company in one case, Milro Services of Freeport, NY, told the New
York Times Oct. 19 they are not responsible for hiring and paying the
laborers because they hired a subcontractor to do that.

Wrote The Times: "By 8 AM each morning, the day laborers line up, 100 deep,
on the corner of Broadway and Fulton Street for a day's work. Escorted past
barricades by police officers, they clear shards of glass, wipe soot off
desks and sweep floors covered with ash and debris. They are promised $60
for an 8-hour shift, $90 if they work 12 hours, and the buildings they clean
include the offices of several city and federal agencies. But in interviews
at the hiring site this week, several laborers, including some men and women
freshly unemployed from shops and delis near the trade center, said they had
not seen a dime for their work-some for a week, some for two."

One woman, Cecilia Linares, said she had worked for seven days straight.
When she asked about pay, the woman who hired her--known only as
"Lumi"--told her, "Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow." Then one morning, she
didn't show up.

The complaints first surfaced when an organizer with the New York Committee
for Occupational Safety and Health went to the hiring line to talk to
workers about safety precautions. He heard an earful about how they were not
being paid and alerted the attorney general's office.

Milro Services identified the subcontractor as Lumi Morel, and weaseled out
of taking any responsibility. "I don't like that this is happening, if it is
happening," Milro VP Tom Milici told the Times, but added, "that's out of my
hands." Morel, reached by The Times, said she had been delayed in paying
some 80 workers due to paperwork, and planned to pay them "by today." The
Times has not done a follow-up story.

Luna Yasui of National Employment Law Project told WW3 Report the problem is
much bigger than one firm. Many workers are getting stiffed, and there is
"no safety training, no safety equipment." Building owners and managers
routinely avoid responsibility through a "chain of subcontracted work," and
the Project is considering litigation. "As the anti-immigrant backlash gets
bigger, the immigrant workforce gets more vulnerable. And it's an immigrant
workforce that's cleaning up lower Manhattan, assuring that residents in
Battery Park City get to go back to their apartments."

THE BATTLE FOR UNION SQUARE
After the 9-11 attacks, thousands of New Yorkers spontaneously gathered each
day at Union Square Park--just above 14th street, northern border of the
frozen zone--to grieve, talk, sing, cry and debate. A "Wall of Hope" was
erected, with home-made notices about missing kin--and, later, memorials to
the presumed dead. Writes Justin Lipson of the NYC Independent Media Center:
"Countless memorials, vigils, peace protests and teach-ins overflowed the
park's southern edge as non-downtowner residents were barred from traveling
below 14th street." But on Sept. 26, the Parks Department began returning
the park to "normal," discouraging public gatherings and cleaning up artwork
and offerings--despite repeated protests. The Union Square Alliance (USA)
has come together to demand the park continue to serve as a citizen forum.
Says USA's Martin Blake: "It was a beautiful place in Manhattan to be. I
showed up again and it was gone." USA has collected hundreds of signatures
on a petition urging Parks Commissioner Henry Stern and Mayor Giuliani to
keep the square as a place to mourn, reflect and discuss the tragedy, as
well as to keep the memorabilia up--which the city is removing for supposed
"archival purposes." WEP workers--part of the city's mandatory make-work
program for welfare recipients--are sent in each morning to
unenthusiastically sweep up the personal memorials left each evening.
Scaffolding was briefly erected for workers to scrub the park's George
Washington statue, which had been hung with flags, poems and
graffiti--mostly chalked (rather than painted) and on a pro-peace theme. "In
what could be seen as a bow to the city's tension, Giuliani is relying on
janitors instead of cops to stop dissent." (www.nyc.indymedia.org)