Was Whitman asked about the White House intervening and editing the EPA reports?

[journalist3072]

So I'm trying to catch up on the news of the day, and in particular Christie Todd Whitman's testimony today about the EPA's reassurances of the air quality after 9/11.

For anyone who watched her testimony today, I want to know: was she asked about how the White House intervened and edited the EPA's 9/11 reports? The Congress really needs to get to the heart of how the White House edited the EPA's 9/11 reports and had them delete cautionary statements and add more reassuring ones.

From the Seattle Post Intelligencier:

Saturday, August 23, 2003

White House edited EPA's 9/11 reports

By JOHN HEILPRIN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- At the White House's direction, the Environmental Protection Agency gave New Yorkers misleading assurances that there was no health risk from the debris-laden air after the World Trade Center collapse, according to an internal inquiry.

President Bush's senior environmental adviser yesterday defended the White House involvement, saying it was justified by national security.

The White House "convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones" by having the National Security Council control EPA communications after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, according to a report issued late Thursday by EPA Inspector General Nikki Tinsley.

"When EPA made a Sept. 18 announcement that the air was 'safe' to breathe, the agency did not have sufficient data and analyses to make the statement," the report says, adding that the EPA had yet to adequately monitor air quality for contaminants such as PCBs, soot and dioxin.

More at: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/136350_epa23.html

Also of interest:

W. House Molded EPA's 9/11 Reports
Advisories Were Edited To Play Down Risk From Asbestos

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22, 2003

CBS/AP) The Environmental Protection Agency's internal watchdog says White House officials pressured the agency to prematurely assure the public that the air was safe to breathe a week after the World Trade Center collapse.

"Competing considerations, such as national security concerns and the desire to reopen Wall Street, also played a role in EPA's air quality statements," the report said.

-snip

The agency's initial statements in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were not supported by proper air quality monitoring data and analysis, EPA's inspector general, Nikki L. Tinsley, says in a 155-page report released late Thursday.

An email sent just one day after the attacks, from then-EPA Deputy Administrator Linda Fisher's chief of staff to senior EPA officials, said "all statements to the media should be cleared" first by the National Security Council, the report says.

Approval from the NSC, which is chaired by President Bush and serves as his main forum for discussing national security and foreign policy matters with his senior aides and Cabinet, was arranged through an official with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the report said.

That council, which coordinates federal environmental efforts, in turn "convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones," the inspector general found.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/09/national/main567489.shtml

[louis-t]

1. The clip I heard today had her being VERY defensive...

(agrily) 'I am being called a liar?!!' or similar.

[journalist3072]

2. Well if she's not a liar, she should have come with the facts to prove she's not....Even more....

I want to hear from the White House on this.

They had no business editing the EPA reports and telling them to put in reassuring statements that could not be backed up by the facts. That's inexcusable. And to me, that's impeachable.

[Gabi Hayes]

4. here. bolded sentence tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about this junta

White House edited EPA's 9/11 reports

By JOHN HEILPRIN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- At the White House's direction, the Environmental Protection Agency gave New Yorkers misleading assurances that there was no health risk from the debris-laden air after the World Trade Center collapse, according to an internal inquiry.

President Bush's senior environmental adviser yesterday defended the White House involvement, saying it was justified by national security.

The White House "convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones" by having the National Security Council control EPA communications after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, according to a report issued late Thursday by EPA Inspector General Nikki Tinsley.

"When EPA made a Sept. 18 announcement that the air was 'safe' to breathe, the agency did not have sufficient data and analyses to make the statement," the report says, adding that the EPA had yet to adequately monitor air quality for contaminants such as PCBs, soot and dioxin.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/136350_epa23.html

[Gabi Hayes]

3. from a clip of today's testimony: IIRC, she said that EVERYTHING

she said right after 911 was true

she and Rudy could be having quite a little hissing contest over this

Pat Buchanan says that NOTHING will hurt Rudy's 911 image. he said it would take a national TV special about 911 to make the public change its mind

the most interesting thing about Buchanan's statement is the implicit acceptance by him that TELEVISION is what drives public perceptions

of course, he's correct, with the addition of right wing lunatic talk radio, which is VERY BAD for democracy, or what's left of it