Federal Judge "Shocked" By Whitman, EPA Statemets On 9/11 Air Quality

[hatrack]

The activists who have been fighting the Environmental Protection Agency ever since Christine Todd Whitman told Downtown residents and workers after 9/11 that the air in their neighborhood was safe to breathe and they should come home and breathe it — despite a lack of evidence — finally had their day in court. But the victory, the first in a long line of setbacks, was bittersweet.

Last week, Judge Deborah A. Batts said Whitman, who was head of the E.P.A. at the time, used “conscience shocking” judgment when she assured people the air in Lower Manhattan was safe. The judge stripped the former New Jersey governor of her immunity in a class action lawsuit brought against her and the E.P.A. on behalf of Downtown residents and students who claim they were harmed by toxins from the dust. Batts, in ruling against the agency, singled Whitman out for a series of misleading statements she continued to make in the weeks after the attacks.

“No reasonable person would have thought that telling thousands of people that it was safe to return to Lower Manhattan, while knowing that such return could pose long-term health risks and other dire consequences, was conduct sanctioned by our laws,” Batts wrote. “Whitman’s deliberate and misleading statements made to the press… shocks the conscience.”

Her ruling lays the groundwork for residents to sue both the E.P.A. and Whitman to force the agency to test Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey homes and offices, clean any remaining dust and debris, and fund a medical monitoring program. Last week the coalition of residents, workers and elected officials celebrated a rare victory in a struggle that has been marred by repeated setbacks in the years since the incineration of the Trade Towers wreaked havoc on their neighborhood. Even in victory, the group was weary and apprehensive that anything positive might come of the recent decision.


EDIT

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_144/federaljudgeshocked.html

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. At least now we know why she was hand picked by this Administration.

They all know how to lie with a face of authority.

[kenny blankenship]

2. That anyone would be shocked

by the revelation that the Bush Administration lies as a matter of standard operating procedure...that's what's shocking.

[tanyev]

3. No one could have predicted the levees would break.

No one could have imagined that terrorist would use airplanes as weapons of destruction.

My shock wore off a long time ago.

[umass1993]

4. It's Her Party Too!

And this proves she's in the right one.

[peacetalksforall]

5. I just had a memory reconstruction. I remember hearing the first

statements about it being OK to go back to the area and I my first reaction was how can it be? Then I kinda, kinda thought maybe is was true (i.e., OK) because this was important for many people especially the workers and they were there and I wasn't. I must thave been swept up in the assumption that they had experts there and that 'we're in this together' stuff (or what I now call stuff - vile lies) and I trusted that they wouldn't do anything to make it worse.

So, they DID get me with that lie.

To go one step further. I remember exactly when I started going in reverse - meaning when I stopped buying the stuff and started my long road of distrust, disdain, and fallout which resulted in me reading many, many theories. The exact moment when I went into reverse is when they said they found Atta's passport.

Most of us were raised with a lot of care. We were taught to question and judge who we could trust. It was ingrained in us to take care of ourselves and our younger siblings. From look both ways to more specific guidelines. We were pushed to think.

I find it extremely difficult to figure out why some people believe the lies so completely.

The greater mystery is why some of us choose to harm the rest of us for their own profit and power.

All power to the people who are trying to crack through the wall of lies and the more powerful and stronger walls of secrecy and exclusion.