Results tagged “environmentalprotectionagency”

The NY Times reports on Mr. New Jersey's ties with the political elite. With it being common practice for high-ranking politicians to attend his concerts, it's seems it's a two way street, with Bon Jovi also showing his support at their functions.

He calls her “Mrs. C.” And she calls on him to add a little celebrity gloss to her presidential campaign.

Continue reading "Jon Bon Jovi as Jersey's Elder Statesman"

Tenants of the office building at 370 Lexington Ave. and East 41st St. are alleging that while they were barred from the building for more than a month during clean-up and decontamination of the area following July's midtown steampipe explosion, their offices were looted of cash, cellphones, electronics, and other portable valuables. The New York Post talked to the president of a graphic-arts company located in the building, who found that approximately $45,000 in items had been stolen from the firm upon returning to its offices in August after six weeks. Stolen items included 12 laptops, every digital and video camera, iPods, memory sticks, as well as cash. He described the robbery as methodical. Other tenants at 370 Lexington complained of similar robberies.

It's been just about two weeks since the 7-alarm fire at the Deutsche Bank building, and the city and state are still trying to figure out how to proceed with the WTC-dust contaminated building's dismantling. The Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation asking for the building to be sealed up "to protect public health and the environment." It was only when the EPA had given its approval for a deconstruction plan last September that the officials were able to develop a timeline for the building's dismantling. The LMDC, which has been presenting a "new, less restrictive plan" for demolition, only said that the plan will "assess and address all potential risks to those who live and work near the building, first responders and others."

Former head of the Environmental Protection Agency (and former NJ Governor) Christie Todd Whitman testified in front of Congress yesterday about the EPA's September 11 response. With critics like Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Anthony Weiner of New York and Representative Bill Pascrell of NJ questioning her, Whitman called statements made about her leadership "misinformation, innuendo and downright falsehoods."

Former NJ Governor and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Christie Todd Whitman is alleging that in the days after the 9/11 attacks, she urged the city to get rescue workers and first responders to wear respirators, but was rebuffed by then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. If true, the allegations would seem to severely damage Giuliani's Presidential aspirations, as he is running on the perceived strength of his leadership in the days following 9/11/01. Whitman also wanted Ground Zero workers wearing haz-mat suits and claims to have warned city officials on a daily basis of the risks that workers were facing.

the Department of Buildings tells the NY Times, "Right now there are no plans filed for the deconstruction. The intent is that the work will be done in phases and that we will not give a permit until we get clearance from the E.P.A. that the abatement on each floor has been completed.” Another issue the NY Times brings up: The lack of public discussion about what will happen with the demolition.

The Daily News' Ben Smith looks at a possible stumbling block for Rudy Giuliani's presidential hopes. And it would be a big one. With September 11 fire responders falling ill and memos about the Giuliani administration opening downtown earlier, in spite of EPA warnings, becoming a bigger and bigger story this year, some who hope for "Giuliani 2008" are concerned that Rudy could be vulnerable, the way John Kerry was when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth emerged in the last presidential election. Smith writes:

Many of the workers who spent time near Ground Zero, including at least one of his top aides, have come down with respiratory and other illnesses doctors link to the air quality following the attacks. Giuliani and former Environmental Protection Agency chief Christie Whitman have traded blame over the fact that more workers didn't wear respirators. But it was Giuliani's old rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who helped organize research into the health impact of the towers' collapse.

Continue reading "Giuliani's Potential "Swift Boat" "

We always knew Gotham's air was special, but we didn't know just how special! Turns out that our fine metropolis has the filthiest air in the country! Huzzah!

This week a federal judge served up former Environmental Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman with an entirely warranted wake-up call. While more than 5,000 residents, workers and students from Lower Manhattan have filed a class action lawsuit accusing Whitman and the E.P.A. of misleading them about the health risks involved in breathing the air near Ground Zero, Whitman, seeing herself somehow exempt, had filed to dismiss the case.

January 27, 2006 12:31 AM

Mostly sunny, high of 80. Gothamist sees some rain on the weather.com radar, but apparently they don't think it'll come our way.

Gothamist is happy that New Yorkers will soon be able to breath easier. The Times reports this morning that the Environmental Protection Agency has set new rules for regulating the emssions from diesel-powered "tractors, bulldozers, locomotives, barges and other nonroad vehicles". Together, these sources emit more soot than all the cars, trucks and buses combined. The new rules will reduce particulate and nitrous oxide emissions by 90 percent. The EPA estimates that controlling these emissions will prevent 12,000 premature deaths, 8,900 hospitalizations, and one million work days lost per year by the time the rules are fully implemented. Separate regulations to reduce pollution from trucks and buses were adopted in 1997. The MTA has been buying new clean-fuel buses, and retrofitting dirty old buses for several years.