Cate Jenkins was fired from job as chemist after accusing EPA of deliberately covering up dangers of 9/11 wreckage dust - The Guardian

Dust from the Twin Towers caused chemical burns to the lungs of firefighters and other rescue teams. Photograph: Jose Jimenez/Getty Images

A government scientist sacked for exposing the dangers to firefighters from the caustic air at Ground Zero in the days after 9/11 got her job back on Monday.

A federal court ordered that Cate Jenkins, a chemist at the Environmental Protection Agency, be reinstated to her job with back pay.

Her lawyer said the decision, although based on matters of legal process, amounted to vindication for Jenkins's claims that the EPA had covered up the danger posed to first responders and others in lower Manhattan from the asbestos and highly corrosive dust that rose from the wreckage of the World Trade Center.

It was also a rare victory for whistleblowers, said lawyer Paula Dinerstein. "This doesn't happen that often."

NY State legislation would force the NYPD to release names of all cops who worked at Ground Zero to cancer researchers
Mount Sinai Medical Center scientists have asked for the information

By Kenneth+Lovett+/+NEW+YORK+DAILY+NEWS
Wednesday, February 8, 2012

ALBANY — The NYPD would be required to provide the list of cops who worked at Ground Zero to cancer researchers under legislation being drafted in the Legislature.

The measure was requested by the police officers union, which says the studies could help secure needed federal health money for ailing cops.

Scientists at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan have asked for the full roster of officers who served at Ground Zero, but the NYPD’s surgeon refused, citing privacy concerns.

Assemblyman Micah Kellner (D-Manhattan) and state Sen. Diane Savino (D-S.I.) ripped the decision and promised to introduce a bill as soon as next week compelling the NYPD to comply with the request.

“These were the heroes of 9/11, and they deserve the best health care possible,” Kellner said. “If there is a higher rate of cancer, we need to find that out through the best study possible, and that means releasing this list.”

My interview with Michele Little, the sister of fallen firefighter David Weiss from Rescue One.

She is an amazing woman and a great friend, and I'm honored to have her in my life. A lot has happened since we first met at the Los Angeles 9/11 Truth Convention in 2006.

Her organization, Unite in Peace, can be found here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlszuEUh4PM

On October 7, 2008, Naomi Wolf was at Vroman's bookstore in Pasadena, California to give a talk and sign her new book "Give Me Liberty." Stewart Howe, of WeAreChangeLA, was on hand and asked Ms. Wolf to give a message to the truth and accountability movement.

After admitting that she had no theory about what actually happened on 9/11, Ms. Wolf stated that no question should be off the table in a free society and saluted the movement's desire to seek truth and accountability.

by Joel Bleifuss
inthesetimes.com
July 14, 2008

For more than six years, Hugh Kaufman has been battling the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), his employer for 37 years, with a whistleblower lawsuit. He has been aided by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a D.C.-based group that represents workers who expose corruption in agencies that oversee environmental quality and public health.

“We get people calling us all the time, but in this administration, more than ever,” says Paula Dinerstein, PEER senior counsel.

In June, Kaufman made his case before a Department of Labor administrative law judge, testifying that former EPA head Christine Todd Whitman closed down the agency’s National Ombudsman Office in an effort to stop investigations that Kaufman was conducting.

WTC dust contains steel, ABC, 19:35, 9/13

While this applies most directly to EPA studies, it certainly seems reasonable to associate this government behavior to NIST, FEMA, and other government agencies that conduct research, especially research and analysis on 9-11 related issues. One can only wonder how much influence has been applied to well-meaning scientists under government payrolls to overlook or dismiss counter-evidence in controlled demolition scenarios at the World Trade Center.

from Raw Story:

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/EPA_scientists_complain_about_polit_04232008.html

Survey shows hundreds of EPA scientists complaint about political pressure.

H. JOSEF HEBERT
AP News

Apr 23, 2008 10:54 EST

Hundreds of Environmental Protection Agency scientists complain they have been victims of political interference and pressure from superiors to skew their findings, according to a survey released Wednesday by an advocacy group.

The Union of Concerned Scientists said that more than half of the nearly 1,600 EPA staff scientists who responded online to a detailed questionnaire reported they had experienced incidents of political interference in their work.

Christie Todd Whitman Not Liable For Telling Residents That World Trade Center Air Was Safe To Breathe, Judge Rules

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/22/christie-todd-whitman-not_n_979...

NEW YORK — Former EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman cannot be held liable for telling residents near the World Trade Center site that the air was safe to breathe after the 2001 terrorist attacks, a federal appeals court said Tuesday.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Whitman apparently made comments reassuring people about the safety around the site based on conflicting information and reassurances by the White House.

The appeals court said legal remedies are not always available for every instance of arguably deficient governmental performance.

A Department of Justice lawyer had argued late last year that holding the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency liable would set a dangerous precedent in future disasters because public officials would fear making public statements.

by Justin A. Martell

The following is a paper I wrote several months ago. I have updated it with a new afterward that responds to the criticisms that the paper received from both Roberts and the rest of his cronies in the "debunking movement."

Here's a claim made by the man that his fellow "debunkers" call the "scourge" of the "Debunking Movement." Roberts posted the statement below on 11/5/07, in response to a fellow JREF poster mentioning the fact that New Yorkers and 9/11 Rescue Workers were told by the EPA that the air in lower Manhattan was safe to breath:

"Well, it's also completely false. No one said the air at Ground Zero was safe to breathe." - Mark Roberts, in post 11,088 as Gravy on the JREF Forum, 11/05/07 (http://forums.randi.org/showpost.php?p=3125436%26postcount=13).

9/11 First Responder Mike Ryan Dies

http://www.jonesreport.com/articles/061107_mike_ryan_911.html

We have received unconfirmed reports that 9/11 first responder Mike Ryan has passed away, presumably from the dust-related illness he has been sufferring from... More information to follow as it comes in

Mike Ryan was a detective and first responder in the aftermath of 9/11.

In a previously posted interview with Ryan, he discusses his difficulties with medical treatment, his questions about WTC Building 7 and comments on the toxic dust and its affect on New York's abandoned heroes.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2975450884801950430&hl=en

This very personal interview gives an account of one 9/11 hero amongst many left in the shadows and sometimes forgotten in the aftermath of the fateful attacks of September 11.

Interview and video by Chris Cowan.

This email sent from John:

Please watch and share these videos with your friends and family (again)

Please make a donation to the Feal Good Foundation www.fealgoodfoundation.com (again)

Please buy the rest of these shirts from We Are Change which also goes to the first responders. www.wearechange.org/2007/09/please-help-70-of-911-rescue-workers.html

Let's do more for these guys/girls than our criminal government has

John Feal on Star Jones

John Feal at Webster Hall

Dr. Frank Legge has published an excellent article “Conspiracy Theories, Myths, Skepticism, and 9/11: their Impact on Democracy” in the Journal of 9/11 Studies, today. It passed peer review prior to publication.

It begins thus: “Abstract: A discussion of conspiracy theories, myths and skepticism is presented. The importance of skepticism in a society in which myths may be deliberately created by authorities to manipulate the public is stressed. A range of methods of avoiding acceptance of myths, including application of the scientific method, is demonstrated using the events of 9/11. A clear understanding of events, unclouded by myths, is essential for the proper functioning of a democracy.

Key words: conspiracy, myth, skepticism, 9/11, democracy, propaganda, thermite, trans fats, cholesterol, PNAC, NIST, FEMA, EPA, Orwell

Frank Legge
PhD (Chem)

From SlowpokeBlog, Commentary by Slowpoke cartoonist Jen Sorensen.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3315309&page=1

Whitman Defends Reputation, Says EPA Protected 9-11 Recovery Workers

By JAKE TAPPER

June 25, 2007 —

Christie Todd Whitman, the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, appeared on Capitol Hill Monday to try to save her reputation amid charges that she gave the public false information immediately following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks about the air quality at the site of the former World Trade Center, saying it was safe.

"There was an environment in the period after Sept 11 where many things that were told to us by our government turned out to be wrong," charged Rep Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y. "Perhaps none were so damaging to the health and the lives of the people in New York City than the ones that were made by our witness here today."

But Whitman insisted that criticism of her was not fair. "Let's be clear. There are people to blame. They are the terrorists who attacked the United States," she said. "Not the men and woman at all levels of government who worked heroically to protect this country."

Source: http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/3887/1/1?TopicID=1

OMB Watch
Published on 06/26/2007

Congress Critical of EPA's Information on 9/11

In recent House and Senate hearings, Congress called to task the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman for misrepresenting the health dangers World Trade Center (WTC) dust posed to the public in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The Senate hearing, chaired by Sen. Hillary Clinton ☼ (D-NY), was held by the Committee on Environment and Public Works' Superfund and Environmental Health Subcommittee on June 20; the House hearing, chaired by Rep. Jerrold Nadler ☼ (D-NY), was held June 25 by the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

The hearings focused on two main areas: (1) EPA's public communications about outside air quality immediately after the towers' collapse; and (2) EPA's programs to sample and clean inside residential air. In both instances, EPA's information greatly impacted the public's ability to make responsible decisions for their self-protection.

In her testimony today, Christie Todd Whitman revealed that her son was in Building 7 on 9/11:

"Whitman finally boiled over when Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) told her she was obfuscating by bringing up the danger faced by her own family to prove her actions were motivated only by concern.

"My son was in building seven that day," Whitman nearly shouted, stabbing at her desk with her hands after Ellison asked if her calm statements might have been too broad."

I couldn't find anything that says what her son, Taylor, does, or why he was in WTC7. Anyone?

--------------------------

Christie Todd Whitman is currently nominated to be a director at United Technologies:

http://www.wnbc.com/politics/13548498/detail.html

"Former Secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency Christine Todd Whitman said Thursday that the Giuliani administration appeared to be more concerned with its image than the safety and speedy response of EPA employees in the wake of the 2001 anthrax scare."
....

"Whitman said New York City had taken responsibility for the work at Ground Zero, and that she could only urge city officials -- on an almost daily basis -- to require workers to use respirators.

Thompson asked if Whitman believed the health of Ground Zero workers was a "ticking time bomb."

"I'm not a scientist, so it's hard to say definitively, but I do (believe that). We wouldn't have been saying that the workers should wear respirators, that there was a difference, that there was a problem with the air on the pile, if we didn't think there might be health consequences from it."

Whitman spoke with WNBC on the eve of a congressional showdown Monday, in which she will testify about the EPA's response, facing U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler -- who has already called her a liar."

Source: http://www.nypost.com/seven/06122007/news/nationalnews/whitman_to_face_9...

WHITMAN TO FACE 9/11 FIRE

By GEOFF EARLE

June 12, 2007 -- WASHINGTON - Former New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman will be grilled on the government's environmental response to 9/11 at a congressional hearing June 25.

A House judiciary subcommittee headed by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) will investigate violations of "substantive due-process rights" of people living and working near Ground Zero, with Whitman as the star witness.

Whitman, who was running the Environmental Protection Agency on Sept. 11, balked at testifying last month, when the panel first tried to call her.

But she has since agreed to face lawmakers and TV cameras in the first major congressional probe into Sept. 11 illnesses focusing on the EPA's response.

Dr. Cate Jenkins holds a PhD in Chemistry and works for the Environmental Protection Agency. She has written an important article -- a Request for Senate Investigation regarding the WTC Dust, here:

http://www.journalof911studies.com/volume/200704/DrJenkinsRequestsSenate...

In an addendum, she also requests an FBI investigation:
http://www.journalof911studies.com/volume/200704/JenkinsRequestFBI_Inves...

The reader will note that Dr. Jenkins is not reluctant to criticize EPA and other officials and politicians in her quest for correct science regarding the toxicity of the WTC dust -- and fairness for those people who were injured by that toxic dust. Hundreds even thousands were hurt by the stuff. In an email, Jenna Orkin writes:

"I've worked with and relied on Cate Jenkins for over five years. As far as I know, her science is sterling and she is among the handful of people who spoke up forcefully and truthfully in the beginning when it counted the most but few were able or willing to do so.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/05/update_exepa_ch.html

Ex-EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman abruptly reversed herself Friday and agreed to testify before Congress on her agency's response to the environmental fallout of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Two days ago, Whitman's lawyer Joel Kobert had denied a request from a House panel chaired by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., for his client to testify, noting she was named in two lawsuits related to the issue.

But today, Whitman herself told Nadler in a hand-delivered letter that she was willing to participate in a hearing "if you insist."

Nadler had originally invited Whitman to testify at a May 22 hearing. In a press release today announcing Whitman's decision, Nadler said he would reschedule Whitman's hearing to a date "in the near future."

On Sept. 18, 2001, then-EPA head Whitman released a statement declaring the results from air monitoring tests in New York showed "their air is safe to breathe."

Source: http://wcbstv.com/local/local_story_110172106.html

Video: http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=98802@wcbs.dayport.com

Apr 20, 2007 7:32 pm US/Eastern

Outrage! Ruling Stings 9/11 First Responders
Court Says Whitman Wasn't Wrong To Say Air Quality Safe

Marcia Kramer
Reporting

(CBS) NEW YORK A major ruling could stop some ground zero workers and lower Manhattan residents suffering from 9/11-related illnesses from suing the city.

CBS 2 has learned the reasons why.

There was shock on Friday as city residents were stunned over a federal appeals court ruling that it was OK for the head of the Environmental Protection Agency to have reassured New Yorkers after 9/11 that the air was safe -- even if it was toxic.

"I’m horrified, not only for the residents down there, but also for the workers who got the worst of it," one resident said. "We can't have a government that lies to us."

Added another New Yorker: "It certainly wasn’t OK. People need to be protected."

"That was unethical to do because it disarmed the people and had people believe they were safe from fallout," said another.

The Second U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Manhattan saw it differently:

Looks also like Giuliani has made a complete 180 when it comes to his position on the issue of the toxic WTC dust and how it has affected 9/11 first responders:

http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=91462@wcbs.dayport.com

Source: http://wcbstv.com/politics/local_story_110160127.html

Apr 20, 2007 4:06 pm US/Eastern

Court Ruling May Stop 9/11 Air Quality Lawsuits

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK An appeals court ruling could spell trouble for New Yorkers suing the Environmental Protection Agency and its former chief for saying that sooty Lower Manhattan air was safe to breathe after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

A three judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared this week that EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and other agency officials can't be held constitutionally liable for making rosy declarations about air quality in the days following the World Trade Center's destruction.

The opinion, written by the court's chief judge, Dennis Jacobs, said opening EPA workers up to lawsuits for giving out bad information during a crisis could have a catastrophic side effect.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1855050994689354420&q
New York City 9-11 Truth weekend (Sept. 8th-11th, 2006), 1st responders speak out about the sick and dying in NYC due to the toxic cloud that the EPA refused to warn about, saying the air was safe to breathe. They covered up the dangers as they covered up the rogue elements of our government being involved in the attacks of September 11 2001.

Cleanup+of+9/11+Dust+to+Continue,+EPA+Says,+Despite+Widespread+Criticism

By ANTHONY DePALMA
Published: December 7, 2006

More than five years after contaminated dust from the World Trade Center seeped into apartments and offices throughout Lower Manhattan, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced plans yesterday to start a final indoor cleanup program next month, despite widespread criticism that the program is seriously flawed.

Agency officials said residents and owners of commercial buildings below Canal Street would have 60 days to sign up for the voluntary program, which will test for asbestos, lead, vitreous fibers and harmful soot that may have come from the collapse of the trade center.

If any one of the contaminants is found, the space will be professionally cleaned at no cost to the resident or owner.

The new program is almost identical to one that was rejected in November 2005 as inadequate by the agency’s advisory panel of experts as well as by community groups, labor unions and the city’s Congressional delegation. The City Council passed a resolution condemning that program, calling it “technically and scientifically flawed.”....

Raw Story has the goods:

"An Environmental Protection Agency whistleblower who has long argued that her agency failed to issue proper warnings about air quality at the World Trade Center disaster site, has leveled new accusations against the agency, RAW STORY has learned.

As RAW STORY reported this past August, Cate Jenkins, an EPA biochemist, sent a letter to the New York congressional delegation, alleging that the inconsistent official reports about inhalant alkalinity were part of an intentional cover up by government scientists and officials.

Jenkins' latest sixty-page document, addressed to the acting Inspector General of the EPA, is in large part a compilation of her previous allegations, but also claims to offer new evidence that criminal fraud is to blame.

In the latest report, Jenkins contends that by failing to report that some of the particulates in the air constituted a severe health hazard--and by suppressing the results of tests for the presence of other toxic chemicals--the EPA misled the public about the dire health consequences of remaining near ground zero or participating in the clean-up effort in the days following the attack.

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fapnews.myway.co...

maybe the blame will find its way back to not only the EPA/Christie Todd Whitman but also to Rice and the Whitehouse!!!!!!

This is a short video about the environmental catastrophe created by the aftermath of the collapse of the Twin Towers and Building 7. And about those who are now suffering tremendously as a result of Toxic Lies told to them about the air quality at Ground Zero.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/07/AR200610...

Advocates Say Illegal Workers Suffer After 9/11 Cleanup
But a Recent N.Y. Program Offers Help to Many With Lung, Other Diseases

By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 8, 2006; Page A10

Jose Moncada watched the World Trade Center towers tumble, and, like so many Americans, felt a patriotic urge to help rescue survivors and rebuild after Sept. 11. "It was my time to put my hand on my heart," he said. "It was my time to help somebody."

It did not matter to him that he was an illegal immigrant from Honduras. And that did not seem to matter to supervisors who oversaw the retrieval of human remains and the removal of toxic debris at Ground Zero. They welcomed Moncada and thousands of other illegal immigrants, no questions asked.

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"Quinn Gillespie's founding partner, Jack Quinn, was White House Counsel in the Clinton administration in 1995 and 1996."

http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/07-13-06/discussion.cgi.54.html

(Jack Quinn is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations along with such notables as Christine Todd Whitman! )

http://www.quinngillespie.com/team/quinn.htm

http://www.cfr.org/bios/1085/christine_todd_whitman.html

"Former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman is blaming the city for not forcing Ground Zero workers to wear respirators, prompting a fiery response from the city's top lawyer."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/ny-nywhit0908,0,2781375....

"Our approach to government relations includes strategic planning, messaging and communications and direct lobbying to help clients achieve their public affairs goals."

http://www.quinngillespie.com/services/govrel.htm