Progress Report: Report Blasts Bush On Ground Zero Cleanup

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Center for American Progress - Progress Report

 

by David Sirota, Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and

Jonathan Baskin

 

August 19, 2004

Environment Report Blasts Bush On Ground Zero Cleanup

Iraq The Situation So Far

Troops Misleading the Guard and Reserves

Under the Radar

 

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Note: Starting tomorrow, The Progress Report is going

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reminisce with old Progress Reports in our archives.

And never fear, regular editions will return to your

in-box on August 30.

 

ENVIRONMENT Report Blasts Bush On Ground Zero Cleanup

In a strongly worded and minutely detailed report, the

Sierra Club charges the Bush administration with

" reckless disregard " for public health in the days and

months following the collapse of the World Trade

Center. " Many hundreds of people " are sick today, the

report states, some debilitatingly so, because of the

government's failure to alert the public to obvious

health risks, including toxic smoke, asbestos and

mercury at Ground Zero. The report concludes: " Much of

the exposure that caused these illnesses, sadly, could

have been avoided if our federal government had

responded to the crisis#8230;with proper concern for

the people exposed. " The report is the most

comprehensive in a litany of evidence suggesting Bush

administration officials ignored warnings,

misinterpreted data and issued a series of overly

optimistic and unsupported statements about

environmental conditions which endangered and in some

cases ruined the health of heroic rescue workers and

residents in and around Ground Zero.

 

THE EPA WHITEWASH: The day after the World Trade

Center collapsed, " a top federal scientist warned in a

strongly worded memo against the quick reoccupation of

buildings in lower Manhattan because of possible

dangers from asbestos and other toxic materials. " But,

unaccountably, the Environmental Protection Agency's

(EPA) first press release, on Sept. 13, said the

results of sampling were " very reassuring. " On Sept.

17, federal and city officials allowed thousands of

people to return to lower Manhattan, declaring a day

later that " their air is safe to breathe and their

water is safe. " But EPA Inspector General Nikki

Tinsley later admitted, " the EPA had not gathered

nearly enough data to make such a sweeping

declaration. " It was in these days, according to the

Sierra Club's report, that New Yorkers near the site

were exposed to dangerous levels of asbestos, lead,

concrete, glass and other debris, including toxic

vapors easily assimilated into people's lungs and

nasal passenges. But on Oct. 3, the EPA said Ground

Zero data through Sept. 30 revealed " no significant

health risks. "

 

PLEADING IGNORANCE: The Bush administration's only

defense for allowing rescue workers and other New

Yorkers to expose themselves to harmful chemicals and

toxins in the days following 9/11 has been to claim it

did not know of the danger. The report categorically

refutes that logic. It states, " The hazards posed by

the incineration and demolition of the towers were new

in scale, but not that new in character. There was a

long-standing, accepted body of knowledge about the

potential dangers that the federal government ignored.

EPA failed to find toxic hazards because it did not

look for them. " When private parties, " using

technology that the federal government not only knew

about but possessed, " did find evidence of public

health hazards in the area, the EPA failed to revise

its sunny, uninformed conclusions. " Leaders in the

Bush Administration failed to change their statements

of assurance about safety even after it became clear

that people were getting sick. "

 

LANGUAGE GAMES: When EPA officials did find hazards at

Ground Zero, Inspector Tinsley's August report

documents several instances where the Bush

administration stripped their draft statements of

caveats and warnings before releasing them to the

public. For instance, language in an EPA draft stating

asbestos levels in some areas were three times higher

than national standards was changed to " slightly above

the 1 percent trigger for defining asbestos material. "

In another example, " A warning on the importance of

safely handling ground zero cleanup, due to lead and

asbestos exposure, was changed to say that#8230;'the

general public should be very reassured by initial

sampling.' " As for the Sept. 18 statement telling New

Yorkers their air and water were safe, agency

scientists quoted in Inspector Tinsley's report said

" the EPA added reassuring language and deleted words

of caution " after it was urged to do so by the White

House Council on Environmental Quality.

 

COUNCIL RUN BY INDUSTRY INSIDER: And who was the man

the Bush administration put in charge of vetting memos

to the public about Ground Zero? " The White House

changes were the work of James Connaughton, chairman

of the Council on Environmental Quality#8230;an

industry lawyer who represented major asbestos and

toxic polluters before his appointment by President

Bush. "

 

STEPS NOT TAKEN: On 9/14/01, President Bush saluted

the firemen and rescue workers at Ground Zero, saying

the nation was " on bended knee#8230;for the workers

that work here. " But because of his administration's

repeated public assurances, the Sierra Club report

found myriad steps were not taken which might have

insulated those workers from health risks. Throughout

the cleanup effort, rescue and recovery workers were

given " inadequate safety gear and conflicting messages

about the need to use it. " When union health officials

urged employers to provide safety gear, they

encountered resistance. And privately hired dust and

debris clean-up workers often had " no protective gear

at all. " These and other missteps are partially

responsible for the adverse health of the " Ground Zero

Community " documented in the report. According to the

Sierra Club, many of those who worked on the site are

now in need of " long-term health monitoring and other

help. The federal government, however, has not

provided reasonably adequate assistance to these

people. "

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO: You can sign the Sierra Club's

petition here to ensure the Bush administration

finishes the job of cleaning up Ground Zero and

provides proper care and monitoring to those at risk

of illness from Trade Center pollutants.

IRAQThe Situation So Far

In an unscheduled fourth day of meetings, the Iraqi

National Conference in Baghdad yesterday picked 81

members of a National Council to run the interim Iraqi

government until the elections in January. (The final

19 spots of the 100-member government have been set

aside for members of the former Governing Council,

which was set up by the American occupation.) The

Washington Post reports, however, " The selection of

Iraq's interim national assembly, envisioned as an

introductory exercise in legislative democracy,

dissolved into bitter feuding Wednesday as a slate of

independent candidates withdrew from the contest,

handing a controversial victory to a bloc dominated by

large political parties. " Instead of voting as

planned, conference delegates simply approved an

81-member council #8211; which had been put together

behind closed doors by the major political parties and

pushed by Prime Minister Allawi -- without holding a

secret ballot. The ballot boxes remained empty, and

" many delegates abandoned the meeting hall to collect

their $100 per diem payments instead of participating

in a show of hands. " Said one furious independent,

" There was no transparency#8230;The parties didn't

give us a chance. " One hotly contested and delicate

aspect of the new interim government, its composition,

" including the breakdown between Shiites and Sunnis,

was not released by conference organizers. The

problems with democracy are the latest stumble in the

struggle for the smooth transfer of power in Iraq.

(For American Progress's take on Iraq after the

transfer of power, read " Iraq After June 30: A

Strategy for Progress. " )

 

AL-SADR'S PLAN: One major factor that disrupted the

Iraqi National Conference: instead of discussions

about democracy, much of the fiery debate swirled over

how to deal with the radical militant cleric Muqtada

al-Sadr, who has led the brutal uprising in Iraq.

Al-Sadr seemed to accept a peace plan yesterday for

the holy city of Najaf, which has been wracked with

violent fighting in recent days. However, it's not

time to pop the champagne and declare victory yet.

Al-Sadr has a nasty history of using fake peace

agreements to get stronger. He used a similar

agreement last spring to stockpile more weapons. This

time, " leery U.S. and Iraqi officials see his proposal

as a bid to buy time to reinforce his fighters in

Najaf. " This new plan, the New York Times writes,

comes " hedged with uncertainties. " Some potentially

dangerous signs: Al-Sadr is demanding conditions and

control over how the peace deal would be implemented.

He has refused to speak directly to the government,

relying on spokesmen #8211; who are vague on details

-- to relay his wishes. The disarmament of his militia

contains the suspect qualifier " except for

self-defense. " His aids announced " any ceasefire would

require American troops to pull away from the shrine. "

Meanwhile, fighting has continued, and the Iraqi

government has threatened swift action if the cleric

does not unconditionally disband his militia

immediately.

 

BY THE NUMBERS: George Will recently took a look at

the statistics in Iraq: " On Oct. 23, just 10 days

before the election, the war in Iraq will have lasted

as long as the 584-day U.S. involvement in World War

I, from the April 6, 1917, declaration of war to the

Nov. 11, 1918, armistice#8230;The war already has

lasted longer than the Spanish-American War (230

days), and on Dec. 9, 42 days before the next

president is inaugurated, the war will be longer than

was the war with Mexico (630 days). "

 

BEREUTER'S SCATHING CRITICISM OF THE " UNJUSTIFIED "

WAR: Retiring senior Republican Rep. Doug Bereuter

stepped outside of politics yesterday to issue a

scathing farewell letter in which he called the Iraq

war " unjustified, " a " mistake, " and " a dangerous,

costly mess. " The Nebraska congressman voted for the

war, but says he now regrets that vote. #160;Blaming

the Bush administration for using " tenuous or

insufficiently corroborated intelligence, " he charges,

" left unresolved for now is whether intelligence was

intentionally misconstrued to justify military

action. " Bereuter knows something about the Iraq

issue: he " is a senior member of the House

International Relations Committee and vice chairman of

the House Intelligence Committee. " (For a

comprehensive list of the existing intelligence the

White House ignored in the push to war, read " They

Knew. " )

 

" THE DOG THAT DIDN'T BARK " : Former weapons inspector

David Kay had a harsh assessment of the

administration's handling of intelligence before going

into Iraq, putting much of the blame at the feet of

National Security Council leader Condoleezza Rice.

#160;According to The New York Times, Kay charged Rice

and the NSC " had botched intelligence information

before the war and was 'the dog that did not bark'

over Iraq's weapons program. " His criticism " mirrored

[those] made earlier this year by Richard A. Clarke,

Ms. Rice's former top counterterrorism deputy, who

accused her of paying little attention to dire

intelligence threats throughout the spring and summer

of 2001 that Al Qaeda was about to strike against the

United States. "

 

THE HUMAN SIDE OF WAR: Knight-Ridder war correspondent

Joseph Galloway, best known for co-authoring the

Vietnam memoir " We Were Soldiers Once#8230;And Young, "

has a three-part series written with fellow journalist

David Swanson about the lives and deaths of the

marines of Echo company, ambushed in Iraq. The lead

article is a heartbreaking look at the sacrifice

America's men and women in uniform are making in Iraq

and the families they've left behind, and is part of a

larger, interactive package about fallen troops. Last

spring, Secretary Donald Rumsfeld intimated U.S.

troops were as interchangeable when he blew off a

question as to why U.S. troops had to stay longer in

Iraq: " Oh, come on. People are fungible. You can have

them here or there. " Galloway, who keeps politics out

of his writing, nevertheless referenced that statement

in talking to Editor and Publisher about the Knight

Ridder series: #160; " Webster defines 'fungible' as

'interchangeable.' This package is proof they're not

interchangeable. They are not spare parts. "

TROOPSMisleading the Guards and Reserves:

Misleading the Guard and Reserves: The WP reports,

" President Bush proposed new educational benefits for

National Guardsmen and reservists on Wednesday " to

" appeal to part-time troops disillusioned by extended

tours of duty in Iraq. " But as a new American Progress

Action Fund backgrounder shows, the president's

proposal is far outweighed by his efforts to slash

education funding for military families. While the

president claimed he has improved military family

housing, the backgrounder shows he has actually tried

to gut funding to improve military family housing. See

the backgrounder here.

 

Under the Radar

ENVIRO #8211; CONTRADICTING STATEMENTS: Earlier this

week, President Bush said, " We've got to use our

resources wisely, like water. It starts with keeping

the Great Lakes water in the Great Lakes Basin...My

position is clear: We're never going to allow

diversion of Great Lakes water. " It was a bold

statement, but one that directly contradicted his

earlier actions. As AP reported on 7/19/01, Bush " said

he wants to talk to Canadian Prime Minister Jean

Chr#233;tien about piping water to parched states in

the west and southwest. " Though experts said at the

time that " diverting any water from the Great Lakes

region sets a bad precedent, " Bush said, " A lot of

people don't need [the water], but when you head South

and West, we do need it. "

 

MEDIA #8211; GREENWALD UNCOVERED: Robert Greenwald,

director of movies like Outfoxed, Uncovered, and

Unprecedented, will be answering questions on USA

Today's website today at 3pm. Greenwald's films, which

are already out on DVD, are hitting theaters this

month and next. Ask Greenwald a question today.

 

HEALTH CARE #8211; SKYROCKETING COSTS HURT JOB GROWTH:

The New York Times reports, " A relentless rise in the

cost of employee health insurance has become a

significant factor in the employment slump, as the

labor market adds only a trickle of new jobs each

month. " Government data, industry surveys and

interviews with employers big and small indicate that

many businesses remain reluctant to hire full-time

employees because health insurance, which now costs

the nation's employers an average of about $3,000 a

year for each worker, has become one of the

fastest-growing costs for companies. The White House's

major initiative to deal with this problem has been

so-called " Health Savings Accounts. " As Gail Shearer

and Susanna Montezemolo note, instead of helping

employers keep their existing coverage, " these plans

replace comprehensive benefits with more limited

benefits and shift costs and responsibilities to

employees. " As one study notes, widespread adoption of

the plans could more than quadruple the annual health

insurance deductibles paid by workers.

 

HEALTH CARE #8211; BUSH STILL REFUSING REIMPORTATION:

Despite having the power to immediately allow

reimportation, President Bush yesterday said " he's

still not sure if it's a good idea. " He acknowledged,

" There's a lot of pressure in Congress for

importation " ; however, he once again invoked

unsubstantiated scare tactics, raising the prospect

that lower-priced, FDA-approved Canadian drugs are

unsafe. As Knight-Ridder reported last year, " Although

they've been warning Americans about the dangers of

prescription drugs from Canada for nearly a year, U.S.

Food and Drug Administration officials can't name a

single American who's been injured or killed by drugs

bought from licensed Canadian pharmacies. "

 

 

FeaturesDON'T MISS

DAILY TALKING POINTS: Administration's Reckless

Disregard Makes New Yorkers Sick.

 

MEDIA: Find out where you can see Robert Greenwald's

Uncovered #8211; a movie about how the Bush

administration misled America to war in Iraq.

 

POLITICS: New records cast doubt on claims made by GOP

front group " Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. "

 

ECONOMY: New data shows rising cost of health care

hindering job growth.

 

DAILY GRILL

Even though experts say " diverting any water from the

Great Lakes region sets a bad precedent " Bush " said he

wants to talk to Canadian Prime Minister Jean

Chr#233;tien about piping water to parched states in

the west and southwest. " He said, " A lot of people

don't need [the water], but when you head South and

West, we do need it. "

 

- AP, 7/19/01; Bush statement, 7/18/01

 

VERSUS

 

" We've got to use our resources wisely, like water. It

starts with keeping the Great Lakes water in the Great

Lakes Basin...My position is clear: We're never going

to allow diversion of Great Lakes water. "

 

- President Bush, 8/16/04

 

DAILY OUTRAGE

A key White House office headed by a former asbestos

lawyer-lobbyist watered down Environmental Protection

Agency warnings about air quality at Ground Zero

immediately after 9/11.

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