Judge Slams Ex-EPA Chief Over Sept.
11
Yahoo News/AP
By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer
February 3, 2006
NEW YORK - A federal judge blasted former Environmental Protection Agency
chief Christine Todd Whitman on Thursday for reassuring New Yorkers soon after
the Sept. 11 attacks that it was safe to return to their homes and offices
while toxic dust was polluting the neighborhood.
U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts refused to grant Whitman immunity
against a class-action lawsuit brought in 2004 by residents, students and
workers in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn who said they were exposed to hazardous
materials from the destruction of the World Trade Center.
"No reasonable person would have thought that telling thousands of people
that it was safe to return to lower Manhattan, while knowing that such return
could pose long-term health risks and other dire consequences, was conduct
sanctioned by our laws," the judge said.
She called Whitman's actions "conscience-shocking," saying the EPA chief
knew that the collapse of the twin towers released tons of hazardous materials
into the air.
Whitman had no comment, according to a spokeswoman. A Justice Department
spokesman said the government had no comment.
Spokeswoman Mary Mears said the EPA was reviewing the opinion but was
pleased that the court had dismissed two of four civil claims against the
agency, including allegations brought under the federal Superfund law.
"The EPA will continue to vigorously defend against the outstanding claims,"
she said.
The judge let the lawsuit proceed against the EPA and Whitman, permitting
the plaintiffs to try to prove that the agency and its administrator endangered
their health.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and reimbursement for cleanup costs
and asks the court to order that a medical monitoring fund be set up to track
the health of those exposed to trade center dust.
In her ruling, Batts noted that the EPA and Whitman said repeatedly —
beginning just two days after the attack — that the air appeared safe to
breathe. The EPA's internal watchdog later found that the agency, at the urging
of White House officials, gave misleading assurances.
Quoting a ruling in an earlier case, the judge said a public official cannot
be held personally liable for putting the public in harm's way unless the
conduct was so egregious as "to shock the contemporary conscience." Given her
role in protecting the health and environment for Americans, Whitman's
reassurances after Sept. 11 were "without question conscience-shocking," Batts
said.
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., said in a statement that New Yorkers are still
depending on the federal government to describe any ongoing risk from
contaminants.
"I continue to believe that the White House owes New Yorkers an
explanation," she said.
U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (news, bio, voting record), a Democrat whose
district includes the trade center site, said the many people who worked at the
site and developed respiratory diseases deserve answers.
"It is my assumption that thousands of people — workers and residents
— are being slowly poisoned today because these workplaces and residences
were never properly cleaned up," Nadler said in a telephone interview.
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