A federal judge slammed ex-EPA honcho Christie Whitman for downplaying the World Trade Center toxic-dust danger and speeding the return of residents and workers to lower Manhattan.
“No reasonable person would have thought that telling thousands of people that it was safe to return to lower Manhattan, while knowing that such return could pose long-term health risks and other dire consequences, was conduct sanctioned by our laws,” Manhattan Federal Judge Deborah Batts said in her decision.
Batts’ ruling yesterday allows a class-action lawsuit against Whitman and the EPA to go forward.
Batts said it was “conscience-shocking” that Whitman knew the WTC’s collapse had caused “the emission of tons of hazardous materials into the air” but still “encouraged residents, workers and students to return.”
“By these actions, she increased, and may have in fact created, the danger to the plaintiffs, namely harm to their persons through exposure to the hazardous substances in the air after the WTC collapse,” wrote Batts.
The class-action suit was filed by residents, students and workers in 2004 and seeks unspecified damages.
A spokeswoman for Whitman said she declined comment.
Two days after the attacks, an EPA press release quoted Whitman saying her agency was “greatly relieved” by the lack of significant levels of asbestos in the air – a claim that ran contrary to test results, the suit says.
On Sept. 16, Whitman told the public that the air around the site was “unlikely to cause significant health effects,” and on Sept. 18, she said the air and water were safe.