EPA Begins Work on WTC Asbestos Cleanup

Date: August 8, 2002

Source: News Room

Almost a year after the World Trade Center collapse coated much of lower Manhattan in asbestos-laced dust and debris, federal environmental officials have announced plans to clean and test up to 38,000 residences. The Environmental Protection Agency said it agreed to the unprecedented indoor cleanup, free for any downtown resident who wants it, mostly to calm lingering fears. The EPA and other government agencies have downplayed any health risk from the dust, saying tests have shown the asbestos did not reach hazardous levels. Critics have complained that the EPA has taken too long to begin the cleanup, and that residents and others have already been exposed to the asbestos for nearly a year. They attacked the latest plan as inadequate.

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