For Immediate Release | Contact: Ari Goldberg | |||
January 23, 2007 | 202-225-5635 | |||
Nadler Demands Health Care for |
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Mr. Nadler and his Congressional colleagues are demanding the federal government provide health care to 9/11 first responders and Following are Mr. Nadler’s remarks at today’s press conference: More than five years after the tragedy of September 11 took the lives of more than three thousand Americans, I’m sad to say that the disaster continues to claim victims until this very day. While those who perished on 9-11 were murdered by savage terrorists, the people who are sick and dying today are victims of our own government’s negligence and incompetence. By now, we all know the story of how our government deceived us and told us the air in the The agency and this administration are callously turning a blind eye to the victims of 9-11 by offering a flawed, inadequate, scientifically unsound plan to decontaminate the area. Their new plan is not comprehensive and does nothing to protect people from harmful exposure to World Trade Center-related dust and debris – it is a slap in the face to all who live, work and go to school in · For one thing, the EPA’s programs for testing and clean up have been voluntary, and contain major gaps by excluding offices, workspaces, and schools. · EPA also identifies the indoor spaces that are contaminated by drawing arbitrary and artificial geographic boundaries, thereby neglecting surrounding areas badly in need of clean-up and shirking its responsibility to test a variety of locations. The boundary of the December 2006 “Test and Clean Program,” currently limited to south of Canal and west of Allen and Pike Streets, explicitly violates the recommendation of external audits that recommend expanding the test and clean area to as far north as Houston Street as well as taking into consideration parts of Brooklyn, Queens and Jersey City. · And the paltry $7 million being spent on the cleanup should be an embarrassment for this administration. It is essential that EPA and the Bush Administration develop a plan to ensure the safety of the thousands of people who live, work, and attend school in ### |
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