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The Sierra Club this week attacked the President for supposedly showing "reckless disregard" by failing to warn the public of alleged health risks posed by "toxic" smoke from the World Trade Center rubble. "The desire to reopen Wall Street cannot justify placing civilian safety at risk," asserted the Sierra Club. Now there's no question that lower Manhattan residents were exposed to varying levels of smoke, dust and fumes — including asbestos, mineral fibers and a soup of chemicals — as a result of the WTC collapse on and after Sept. 11. There's also no question that some residents developed new,...

The Bush administration showed “reckless disregard” for public health after the World Trade Center collapse by failing to warn people of the health risks of breathing toxic smoke and dust at ground zero, an environmental group said Wednesday. Hundreds of people were sickened because of mistakes made by the government during the recovery and cleanup effort following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, the Sierra Club said in a report on the environmental and health impacts of the collapse. “The federal government should have a duty to protect the public from the aftermath of an attack such as this,” said...

After the World Trade Center collapsed, air samples collected nearby showed that levels of some cancer-causing chemicals had soared but had fallen so quickly that the pollution spike was unlikely to increase cancer risks in nearby communities, researchers reported yesterday. The chemicals, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are often found in sooty particles generated when fire consumes anything from tobacco to jet fuel. They have been linked to lung, skin and bladder cancers as well as other health problems. Earlier studies had estimated that between 100 and 1,000 tons of the chemicals spewed into the air after the attacks, both from...

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has dropped her plans to block the nomination of former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, saying she will no longer hold the nomination hostage to her demands that the White House release the names of individuals she accused of engaging in a massive Ground Zero air quality cover-up. "We have reached agreement with the White House for additional testing to verify that residences [at Ground Zero] that have been cleaned have not been recontaminated," Mrs. Clinton told reporters yesterday, saying she'll allow the Leavitt nomination to go to the Senate...

Democrats block EPA nominee vote in Environment Committee By Susan Davis, CongressDaily Senate Democrats Wednesday blocked the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee from voting on President Bush's nomination of GOP Gov. Michael Leavitt of Utah to head the EPA by boycotting a markup. "Unfortunately, the Democrats, in boycotting this markup, have publicly shunned committee precedent and insulted one of the most highly qualified people ever to be nominated for this job," said Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman James Inhofe, R-Okla. Senate rules require 10 members of the 19-member committee to be present to constitute a quorum, and...

Sen. Clinton vows to continue blocking EPA nominee By DEVLIN BARRETT Associated Press Writer September 30, 2003, 6:48 PM EDT WASHINGTON -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday she still plans to block President Bush's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency in an ongoing dispute over the administration's response to Sept. 11 air-quality concerns. Clinton, D-N.Y., met with White House environmental official James Connaughton Tuesday to discuss her intention to block a Senate vote on Utah governor Mike Leavitt's nomination to head the EPA. Clinton has vowed to use a parliamentary procedure known as a "hold" to prevent a...

<p>September 15, 2003 -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton last night blasted ex-EPA chief Christie Todd Whitman for blaming Ground Zero rescue workers for their own health problems. In yesterday's Post, Whitman insisted, "We said from the very beginning that people should wear respirators . . . If they had worn the devices, we'd see a lot less problems."</p>

<p>September 14, 2003 -- Christie Whitman has three words for many of the Ground Zero rescue workers suffering from "tower lung" and other lingering health problems: We warned you. Whitman, who headed the federal Environmental Protection Agency on 9/11 and afterward, said yesterday her agency did everything it could to warn rescue teams they needed to worry about their own health and safety while conducting their heroic work.</p>

<p>Sen. Hillary Clinton says she’ll block President Bush’s nominee for chief of the Environmental Protection Agency (search) because the EPA allegedly misled New Yorkers about health risks after the Sep. 11 attacks.</p> <p>It apparently doesn’t matter to Sen. Clinton that the president’s nominee, Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt (search), was governor of Utah at the time and had no connection to the EPA’s post-attack response. Other facts about the alleged post-attack health risks don’t seem to matter to her, either.</p>

What did Hillary Clinton know about air quality at Ground Zero......and when did she know it?

Senator Clinton’s decision to use the turmoil and tragedy of the killings at the World Trade Center on September 11 to put a hold on the nomination of President Bush’s pick for head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Mike Leavitt, doesn’t bode well for her role in the coming political season. As the second anniversary of the attacks nears, the senator representing the victims and many of their families has made it her priority to demand hearings on the notion that the White House may have issued overly soothing statements about whether it was still safe to breathe in Lower...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday she planned to block President Bush's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency over an internal report saying the EPA misled New Yorkers about health risks after the World Trade Center attack. In a telephone interview, Clinton told The Associated Press she would place a hold on the nomination of Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, a procedural move that would prevent the full Senate from voting on his confirmation, though it does not stop committee hearings. "This is an effort to get the administration that he wants to join to take responsibility," she said. Clinton...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday she planned to block President Bush's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency over an internal report saying the EPA misled New Yorkers about health risks after the World Trade Center attack. In a telephone interview, Clinton told The Associated Press she would place a hold on the nomination of Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, a procedural move that would prevent the full Senate from voting on his confirmation. ``This is an effort to get the administration that he wants to join to take responsibility,'' she said. She said she held...

<p>Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday she planned to block President Bush's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency over an internal report saying the EPA misled New Yorkers about health risks after the World Trade Center attack.</p> <p>In a telephone interview, Clinton told The Associated Press she would place a hold on the nomination of Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, a procedural move that would prevent the full Senate from voting on his confirmation.</p>

NBC Report: White House Altered EPA Reports On Safety Of Air Quality POSTED: 9:19 p.m. EDT September 3, 2003 UPDATED: 11:19 p.m. EDT September 3, 2003 Just a week after Sept. 11, 2001, the agency responsible for the environmental health of Americans-- the Environmental Protection Agency -- declared the air and water safe in New York. But now, in her first interview, the EPA's top watchdog says the agency didn't have the facts when it said it was safe to move back to the offices and homes near ground zero -- and she's pointing the finger all the way to...

Sometimes you get a sense that a politician really cares about an issue. Other times, your gut tells you a politician is looking for an issue in order to get himself [herself] in the spotlight. Hillary's performance on The Today Show this morning [wearing, it should be noted, the black version of Ol' Crusty] would seem a perfect illustration of the latter phenomenon. Here was Hillary, interviewed by Matt Lauer, touting her latest cause: demanding Congressional hearings to investigate the fact that in the aftermath of 9/11, the EPA Administrator (Christie Todd Whitman?) issued a statement to the effect that...

<p>August 28, 2003 -- "I know a little bit about how White Houses work. I know somebody picked up a phone, somebody got on a computer, somebody sent an e-mail, somebody called for a meeting, somebody, probably under instructions from somebody further up the chain, told the EPA, 'Don't tell the people of New York the truth,' and I want to know who that is."</p>

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is demanding that President Bush turn over all records of communications between the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency regarding air quality at Ground Zero in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Clinton issued the demand at a press conference yesterday, where she alleged that the White House had ordered the EPA to withhold information about contaminated air that was dangerous to the health New York City residents. "[The EPA] knew and they didn't tell us the truth and the White House told them not to tell us the truth," the top...