I'm no scientist, that's for sure. Before September 11th, my knowledge of air quality related to deadly health problems was limited to trucks contributing to asthma rates for kids in New York. But even my feeble, right-brained mind was able to grasp what I learned just weeks after the fall of the Twin Towers. There was a toxic stew in the New York area, made up of tiny particles, that couldn't possibly be safe to be around.
I remembered, as a kid, when school was closed for asbestos abatement. So, add to the asbestos in the towers to the pulverized lead, benzene, mercury, silicon, and a dozen other things from the periodic table, and there had to be danger. Maybe not a danger that would immediately manifest its effects, but a danger that years down the road, after these particles had settled in thousands and thousands of lungs, could become what would be known as "World Trade Center Cancer."
Yet, just days after the fall of the towers, as toxic dust still covered lower Manhattan, and particles had a chance to travel further north and east into parts of Brooklyn, Christie Whitman, the EPA Administrator at the time, told the world that the "... air is safe to breathe, and ... water is safe to drink" in New York.
As press secretary to the Congressman for the area, Rep. Jerry Nadler, I was fortunate enough to work for the first elected official to recognize the dangers of the toxic dust and the severe threat to people in the area. Rep. Nadler picked up the cause of protecting the health of the people in the area with unmatched doggedness. Unfortunately, the predominant attitude in the media when presented with pressing questions about why the area would be opened up so quickly, and what science that decision was based on, was "Why would the government lie?" From network news to the New York Times, I was told that we were being "alarmist" and the story probably wasn't as serious as we thought. Add to that, that the Bush and Giuliani administrations continued to obstruct inquiries into the truth and deny proper testing of the area, and there was nothing but mass confusion as to the situation in New York. Nadler and community groups (soon after joined by Senator Hillary Clinton and other electeds) said real testing and cleaning was a matter of life and death, while Christie Whitman held firm that she did nothing wrong, and many media outlets reported her obstructions as matter-of-fact.
Now, finally, because Jerry Nadler controls a committee by way of being in the majority, Christie Whitman will be taken to task. She'll be appearing in front of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, that will examine whether due process rights were violated in the aftermath of the fall of the World Trade Center.
One of the first journalists who was open to the idea that there was gross negligence by the government when I first started pitching the story was Juan Gonzalez of the New York Daily News. The hearing, and Whitman's testimony, is as much a victory for Gonzalez as it is for Rep. Nadler and the people of New York. Juan dug and dug and discovered things that filled in many blanks. After initial resistance from the paper to report as frequently on his findings as he'd have liked, Juan took it on himself to publish a book on the situation, titled "Fallout." In the book, Juan competently puts together the pieces to tell the infuriating story of what was Katrina before there was a Katrina.
Today, he poses his top-10 questions for Whitman. I urge everyone to read it, and pay attention to what she says in front of Rep. Nadler, today. Maybe there aren't the same dramatic pictures that came out of New Orleans, but the fallout from the collapse of the Trade Center towers has the potential to be many times more catastrophic than Hurricane Katrina. And, I have to give credit to the editors there, who over time have become as tenacious on the issue as Juan. Their editorial today shows it.
So, pay attention to what happens at the hearing today. It's up to us to make sure that the work of Rep. Nadler, Sen. Clinton, and Juan Gonzalez saves what lives we still can and delivers justice for all the people of New York.