Ground Zero: Labor Safety & Environment Updates Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Ground Zero: - NYC Officials Urge Clean-Up Agency - Labor Safety Guidelines Set Tuesday November 20 01:27 PM EST (via Yahoo NYC Leaders Want WTC Cleanup Agency NEW YORK (AP) - A group of elected officials has urged the city to create an agency to oversee the environmental cleanup of the World Trade Center site. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields said Monday that the numerous agencies working at the site have made it difficult to obtain reliable information about environmental safety conditions. `We are concerned that the cleanup process up to date is not being administered in a uniform way, that some areas are being properly decontaminated and others are not being cleaned at all,'' said Nadler. The Democrats also released a report showing that the air in lower Manhattan has tested positive for dangerous levels of asbestos and other toxins. The privately conducted report found high levels of toxins in samples taken in mid-September. Republican Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who has maintained that the air in downtown Manhattan is safe, said information on air quality is available with the Department of Environmental Protection. * The NY Daily News via Yahoo: Tuesday November 20 06:37 AM EST Safety Guidelines Set for WTC Site Workers By GREG GITTRICH and FRANK LOMBARDI Government and union leaders hammered out guidelines on safety for Ground Zero workers yesterday as a group of elected officials urged Mayor Giuliani to name an environmental cleanup czar for downtown. "We want the workers to be safe," said Donna Miles, a spokeswoman for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. While not all the details of the agreement were available yesterday, the pact will require workers to complete a health and safety training program. "The safety standards are going to be strictly enforced," said Louis Coletti, chairman of the Building Trades Employers' Association, which represents 1,500 construction managers and subcontractors. Meanwhile, a group of elected officials released a privately conducted air quality study that found extremely high levels of asbestos in two buildings near Ground Zero in mid-September. Too Many Cooks? The group, the Ground Zero Elected Officials Task Force, requested "the designation of one city agency to oversee all environmental aspects of the debris cleanup in lower Manhattan." The members, all Democrats from Manhattan, include Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Borough President Virginia Fields. They complained that a confusing array of city, state and federal agencies have their hands in the cleanup, and that it's often impossible to get reliable information on conditions that Councilwoman Kathryn Freed, a task force member, described as a "toxic soup." City Hall referred the group to the city Department of Environmental Protection and the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management. The group cited a study of dust and air samples taken Sept. 18, a week after the Trade Center attack, at a seven-story apartment building at 45 Warren St. - four blocks north of Ground Zero - and a 30-story apartment building at 250 South End Ave. in Battery Park City, just southwest of Ground Zero. One of the experts who conducted the study was John Kominsky, a chemical engineer based in Cincinnati. Kominsky said the levels of asbestos found in the two buildings far exceeded the maximum level the Environmental Protection Agency deems permissible in schools that have undergone asbestos remediation. That standard is 70 "structures" - fiber, bundle or fine material - per square millimeter. The levels found at 45 Warren St. ranged from 279 to 376 structures per square millimeter. At 250 South End Ave., the levels ranged from 6,277 to 10,620 structures per square millimeter. Kominsky said those levels would cause "significant health risks" if there was long-term exposure. He advised that anyone cleaning up those buildings should know the "proper techniques" for handling asbestos. No Problems Found Richard Feldman, who lives at 45 Warren St., said the building was cleaned up before people moved back. He said more recent tests have found no asbestos problem. A building management representative said 250 South End Ave. was thoroughly cleaned "inside and out" before people returned and that tests are being conducted to make sure the condos remain safe. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytenv-11.20.01-19:49:28-8347