Whitman
Former EPA Chief Refuses to Testify on Post-9/11 Air Quality
ABC's The Blotter has the goods
Christine Todd Whitman, the former administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, has refused to testify before a congressional subcommittee, regarding the government's handling of the air quality at the World Trade Center site following the 9/11 attacks.
In refusing to testify, Whitman's attorney cited that the former New Jersey governor is named as a defendant in two lawsuits involving her statements on air quality following the attacks.
Her attorney, Joel Kobert, also said in a letter to the subcommittee that Whitman "would be unlikely to assist the Subcommittee on this subject" because she is not a lawyer.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, said today he will continue to "strongly urge her to cooperate" and to appear at the hearing. He added he hoped he would not have to resort to the "compulsory process."
RICE OK'D CLAIM OF 'SAFE AIR'
RICE OK'D CLAIM OF 'SAFE AIR'
AFTER 9/11
By SUSAN EDELMAN, HEATHER GILMORE and BRAD HAMILTON
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CHRISTIE WHITMAN
Press releases got vetted.
September 24, 2006 -- Condoleezza Rice's office gave final approval to the infamous Environmental Protection Agency press releases days after 9/11 claiming the air around Ground Zero was "safe to breathe," internal documents show.
Now Secretary of State, Rice was then head of the National Security Council - "the final decision maker" on EPA statements about lower Manhattan air quality, the documents say.
Scientists and lawmakers have since deemed the air rife with toxins.
Early tests known to the EPA at the time had already found high asbestos levels, the notes say. But those results were omitted from the press releases because of "competing priorities" such as national security and "opening Wall Street," according to a report by the EPA's inspector general.
The chief of staff for then-EPA head Christie Todd Whitman, Eileen McGinnis, told the inspector general of heated discussions, including "screaming telephone calls," about what to put in the press releases.