Air Quality: story pitch

(Mike Weiss)
Dr. Paul Lioy works at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. A foremost expert on the airborne health hazards created by the terrorist action of 9/11, he has authored several papers on the health issues related to the disaster and has reached this conclusion: within three years of 9/11, the Federal government should have done three things:

1. State unequivocably what happened on 9/11 in terms of the health hazards, specifying how and why the government failed to properly alert the public. Basically, why 8,000 people were unnecessarily injured by contaminated air.
2. State what the Federal government is doing now to correct the mismanagement of 9/11 so that if a similar event occurs, it will be handled better.
3. State what the Federal government needs the public to do so that we are better prepared for another terrorist attack.

Since the government has not answered these questions, I will attempt to do so. As part of the class project to determine how high-rise building safety in NYC has improved since 9/11, I will determine how the air quality monitoring and alerting system, an aspect of high-rise safety, has developed since the WTC disaster.

Primarily with the help of Dr. Lioy and David Newman, who was formerly part of EPA’s WTC Expert Review Panel and is now working for the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, I will try to trace the way the government should have responded to the public health hazards of 9/11, explain why this did not happen, and why no meaningful steps are currently being taken to improve preparedness.