Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Beware of elephants on Broadway....
With the Republican National Convention set to start on Monday, allegations are flying that the Bush Administration completely mishandled problems at Ground Zero, and plans to perpetuate those same problems in the future.
According to a report from the Sierra Club (which followed up the EPA's own report):
-- The Bush administration knew the health risks and ignored its own long-standing body of knowledge about the harmful products of incineration and demolition. It should have issued a health warning immediately on that basis.
-- EPA failed to find toxic hazards because it did not look for them, or did not look for them properly. And EPA failed at least a dozen times to change its safety assurances as new information arose -- even after it became clear that people were getting sick.
-- Many workers at and near Ground Zero did not have proper health and safety protections. And the Bush administration refused to enforce worker safety requirements at Ground Zero.
-- Both EPA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assured families they could clean up contaminated dust themselves with wet rags and discouraged them from wearing safety masks.
The report alledges that Bush plans to turn what they did at Ground Zero into standard policy.
The Village Voice is also offering it's take onThe 10 Ways Bush Screwed New York (via Catch.com).
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According to a report from the Sierra Club (which followed up the EPA's own report):
-- The Bush administration knew the health risks and ignored its own long-standing body of knowledge about the harmful products of incineration and demolition. It should have issued a health warning immediately on that basis.
-- EPA failed to find toxic hazards because it did not look for them, or did not look for them properly. And EPA failed at least a dozen times to change its safety assurances as new information arose -- even after it became clear that people were getting sick.
-- Many workers at and near Ground Zero did not have proper health and safety protections. And the Bush administration refused to enforce worker safety requirements at Ground Zero.
-- Both EPA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assured families they could clean up contaminated dust themselves with wet rags and discouraged them from wearing safety masks.
The report alledges that Bush plans to turn what they did at Ground Zero into standard policy.
The Village Voice is also offering it's take onThe 10 Ways Bush Screwed New York (via Catch.com).
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