Whitman Wins Appeal on 9/11 Responsibility

Former EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman won a legal appeal over telling New Yorkers that the air at Ground Zero was safe to breathe after the 2001 terrorist attacks. A lower court had held her statements to be “conscience-shocking.” This journal holds her personally responsible for the sickness of thousands, and the deaths of many. The law may say she bore no liability, but justice is a different matter.

Ms. Whitman offered this statement upon being let off the hook, “I am pleased that the court today confirmed what I have said -- that we at the EPA acted reasonably and made every effort to protect the people of New York.” That is, of course, utter bollocks. On September 14, 2001, she told the press, “The good news continues to be that air samples we have taken have all been at levels that cause us no concern.” A week after the attacks, she told New Yorkers that their air “is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink.”

In February 2006, US District Judge Deborah A. Batts wrote in her decision, “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.” By trying to avoid increasing the panic and chaos in Lower Manhattan, the EPA on orders from the White House condemned many to illness and premature death.

Nevertheless, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, “Whether or not Whitman’s resolution of such competing considerations was wise, she has not engaged in conduct that ‘shocks the conscience’ in the sense necessary to create constitutional liability for damages to thousands of people.” The judges bought the story that, because she violated no one’s constitutional rights, she had immunity.

As much as this journal would like to see her spend time in jail for her actions, that isn’t going to happen. All that can be done now is take care of those who suffered by the EPA’s dreadful actions. New York’s Daily News rightly said, “There is no question that most of the stricken were denied payment by the federal 9/11 compensation fund only because their illnesses showed up after the fund was closed . . . it’s time to move toward settlements based on a $1 billion fund set aside after 9/11 to pay claims, supplemented by insurance proceeds and other contributions from defendants.” The government failed to protect Manhattan on September 11, 2001, and it failed to protect the survivors from the asbestos in the air and lead in the water afterward. The least it can do now is try to make amends.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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