9/11 air fears stifled (Memo: City Hall divided over asbestos danger)

[sabra]

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/445982p-375415c.html

9/11 air fears stifled
Memo: City Hall divided over asbestos danger

Less than a month after 9/11, a top city Health Department official blasted an order from City Hall to reopen several blocks near Ground Zero, and warned that "air quality at those locations is not yet suitable for reoccupancy," an internal memo shows.

"The Mayor's Office is under pressure from building owners and business owners in the red zone to open more of the city to reoccupancy," wrote Associate Health Commissioner Kelly McKinney in his startling Oct. 6, 2001, memo. At the time, McKinney was in charge of the city's environmental hazards program.

His memo reveals sharp disagreements between health officials and other Giuliani administration aides over how to handle environmental contamination after 9/11.

...

In his memo, McKinney noted that DEP Commissioner Joel Miele was also "uncomfortable with opening the target areas" but said, "I was told the Mayor's Office was directing OEM to open the target areas next week."

[Bozita]

1. I'd love to see Christie Todd Whitman's opinion of this article

[Name removed]

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