Nonetheless, beginning on September 13, EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman declared the As a result, Ground Zero workers often labored without benefit of respiratory protection. At a hearing held by the , Lieutenant Manuel Gomez testified that when he brought his own respirator he was instructed not to wear it for fear of frightening the public. New York City Transit worker Walter Jensen has stated that when he asked for a respirator he was threatened with disciplinary action and firing. He later suffered a heart attack and at the age of fifty-five says he will never work again. Scientists such as , , and others warned of the consequences of inhaling the toxic dust and fumes but were unheeded by the agencies in charge.

Also as a result of the EPA's repeated denials that there was anything amiss in the air, residents returned home. The EPA having renounced its authority over indoor air, the residents cleared thousands of tons of toxic dust according to instructions they were given by the   Workers also returned to their offices downtown. In early October, Borough of Manhattan Community College and Stuyvesant High School reopened. Since state and federal laws were suspended in the 'emergency' conditions that prevailed for the eight months of cleanup, the main waste transfer station was placed at Stuyvesant's North entrance next to the ventilation intakes and across the street from BMCC's 17,000 students and a housing complex of 5000.

The World Trade Center Environmental Organization was founded to protest these circumstances, in particular the barge operation. In March, 2002 they organized a demonstration which was attended by hundreds of protesters from WTC EO, the , the World Trade Center Emergency Environmental Group and others. (The WTC EEG had also held a demonstration in December, 2001.)

Members of WTC EO went on to serve on the Steering Committees of and Concerned Stuyvesant Community. The activists of these organizations have also and at hearings at all levels of government as well as at the many that have been held concerning 9/11 contamination.

As a result of community activism as well as the efforts of , the , and others, in May, 2002, the EPA reversed its stand on indoor air and announced it would undertake a voluntary cleanup program of apartments in the immediate vicinity of Ground Zero. The program was dangerously flawed, however, as was noted in the .

In August, 2003, the Inspector General of the EPA confirmed the suspicions of the community and government activists: It issued a which stated that the EPA had changed press releases at the instigation of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

The worst fears of the early alarm-sounders were also being confirmed:  were manifesting persistent, debilitating symptoms which restricted their ability to work and live normally. Symptoms were also appearing among and

Jenna Orkin, Co-Founder: January 2002  

Website constructed:  May 2004

CONTACT

Health and Safety Organizations active on WTC issues

Neighborhood Organizations

Science

Elected officials

Appointed Officials 

WTCEO in press

POETRY

9/11 enviropress                                                          Resources for startup enviro-websites