Two veteran firefighters were killed in a blaze at the abandoned Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty St. yesterday. The building was in the process of being dismantled after it was damaged beyond repair during the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001. The New York Times reports that the fire started on the 17th floor, allowing the blaze to mushroom out of control as it consumed construction equipment and scaffolding, which fell to the street below. The cause of the fire is still being investigated, but a deconstruction crew was working at the site before the fire broke out and a police source told The Daily News that fire may have been caused by a construction worker's cigarette. more ›

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. more ›

The EPA announced a new plan to test for toxic dust in lower Manhattan. The only thing is that pretty much everyone hates the $7 million plan, which is similar to a plan rejected last year as being inadequate. The NY Times reminds us that the City Council even "passed a resolution condemning that program, calling it 'technically and scientifically flawed.'" more ›

In the days after September 11, people flooded to Ground Zero in order to help out in any way possible. And though workers were given air masks to protect from the fumes and toxins in the smoke-filled air, too many workers have respiratory problems, hence a federal lawsuit on behalf. The NY Times has a front page article about the lawsuit and the failure to better protect people. Naturally, the city says workers ignored warnings to use masks, but others say there should have been stricter regulation of the rules on site. One thing that may have played into a lack of air mask-wearing: The EPA saying people could return to Lower Manhattan. An industrial hygienist, David Newman, says, "[employers suddenly]had a green light to say, 'We don't need to use respirators because the E.P.A. says the air is OK.'" And then there's OSHA not directly enforcing "workplace regulations." Some workers may have gotten better masks, but as one And there's a lot of money at stake - remember former deputy mayor Rudy Washington only getting worker's comp for his Ground-Zero related medical issues after it made a splash in the papers? more ›

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Surprise, surprise, a government agency tasked to work on something September 11-related will not do what they set out to do but actually do something that's much less involving. A capsule history as gleaned from the NY Times: The EPA has spent the past four years mostly testing air and talking about what "contaminated" air really contains. There has been some cleaning, but not enough which provoked Senator Hillary Clinton to get the EPA to form a panel of experts that ended up recommending more aggressive sampling study that would have included lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, residential and commercial buildings. But then the panel couldn't agree with the government about what the benchmark for testing would be, so that sampling plan was 86'd. The Times doesn't sugarcoat the problem: "The revised plan represents the failure of a technical panel of scientists, local officials and community representatives to agree on the final details of the original, more comprehensive plan. After nearly two years of often rancorous debate and negotiation, the panel was stalled. More than four years have passed since the terrorist attack on the twin towers." more ›

Governor George Pataki, realizing even in the waning months as a potential lame duck governor that he needs to take action with the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, has installed one of his aides to lead the effort. Other aides say that yesterday's announcement that John P. Cahill would be moving from Albany to help jumpstart the rebuilding, which has taken its fair share of knocks in the past year, from Goldman Sachs deciding not to move to the site and the NYPD's criticism of Freedom Tower's safety, was meant to restore confidence. Cahill will also be drumming up more fundraising efforts to attract money to the project. Gothamist would like Cahill to know that we wish him luck - you better get everything straightened out before Pataki's term is over. more ›

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. more ›

"Love Canal Declared Clean, Ending Toxic Horror" from The New York Times. more ›