BUSH can't even tell NEW YORKERS THE TRUTH ABOUT THEIR AIR.....let alone what really happened on HIS WATCH when the 9/11 attacks came
Clinton Seeks Answers on Air Quality
By Margaret Ramirez
Newsday Electronic Publishing
Tuesday 26 August 2003
Outraged that the White House misled New Yorkers about air quality after the Sept. 11 terror
attack, Sen. Hillary Clinton and dozens of other city and state officials demanded a presidential
explanation.
A report released Friday by the Inspector General of the federal Environmental Protection Agency
found that the White House instructed EPA officials to reassure New Yorkers that the air was safe to
breathe after the attacks, even though deadly contaminants were present in lower Manhattan.
The report said in editing EPA press releases the White House "added reassuring statements and
deleted cautionary statements."
Speaking on the steps of City Hall, Clinton said she had sent a letter to President George W. Bush
Tuesday asking for a thorough and expeditious accounting of what transpired in the White House after
the attacks, including the names of officials who changed EPA information.
The letter, also signed by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), asked the president to respond by
Sept. 5.
"Maybe after the first couple of days nobody could know," Clinton said, referring to the EPA
statements after Sept. 11. "But a week later? Two weeks later? Two months later? Six months later?
Give me a break. They knew and they were going to tell us the truth and the White House told them
not to tell us the truth.
"Now they should come to New York and face us," she said.
White House representatives have argued against the Inspector General's findings, stating that the
choices made by the Bush administration were necessary for national security reasons.
In the letter to the president, Clinton also asked the Bush administration to implement a new
testing program to ensure residents are no longer at risk of exposure to harmful toxins in the dust and
air.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) called on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to take a more active role in
pressing the federal government for a proper cleanup of lower Manhattan homes, schools and
businesses.
At the news conference, Madelyn Wils, chairwoman of Community Board 1, said much of the
blame should also be placed on the administration of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for not responding
to concerns of residents in lower Manhattan immediately after the attack.
While much of the city was focused on recovering victims from the debris, Wils said the health of
residents and workers was largely ignored.
"Who was looking after the living?" Wils asked. "No one was looking after the living."
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