Court: Ex-EPA Chief Not Liable For 9/11 Air Pollution Claims

Christine Todd Whitman, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, cannot be held liable for assuring residents near the burning detritus of the World Trade Center after the 2001 attacks that the air was safe to breathe, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Because Whitman did not intend to cause harm, a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said, her message did not "shock the conscience" to the degree necessary to waive her immunity as a federal official.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[breakfast]

She may be not legally liable, but she is certainly has personal responsibility for the sickness she urged people to subject themselves to.

Sitting in front of my TV here is SC, I knew that that air wasn't fit to breathe. How could she not have?

Par for the course in the Bush administration.

[LittleBrother]

So Ms. Whitman's Judas goat approach failed to "shock the conscience" of the appellate judges.

It must be such a comfort to the criminal maladministration to have the judiciary in its deep, booty-filled pockets. From Hawaii to the 51st State, i.e. Iraq, it's like having a lifetime supply of Get Out of Jail Free cards.

Ms. Whitman will continue to be well-regarded and respected in the political elite community; she won't even stand out among this crowd of blood-soaked monsters.

[SamEllison]

Living 12 miles away from ground-zero, in New Jersey, I remember my former governor assuring us that no toxic material had been found in the air over NYC.
The reason for that claim was NO TESTS HAD BEEN DONE.
Is that a failure of omission or commission?
Just look at ALL the statements ever made by the Bushies.
Technically they didn't lie, but they are liars.

[VA2008]

Bet she wouldn't allow herself to be put in a room with the pollutants being blown in for her to breathe for a couple of days. Let's see what she thinks about that idea! This woman is so guilty of lying to the workers at ground zero it's not even funny........the jerks always get the breaks!