Whitman denied immunity in 9/11 toxic dust suit
A federal judge blasted former Environmental
Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman on Thursday for reassuring New
Yorkers after the September 11 attacks that it was safe to return to their homes
and offices while toxic dust was polluting the neighborhood.
A federal judge blasted former Environmental Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman on Thursday for reassuring New Yorkers after the September 11 attacks that it was safe to return to their homes and offices while toxic dust was polluting the neighborhood.
U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts refused to grant Whitman immunity against a class-action lawsuit brought in 2004 by residents, students and workers in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn who said they were exposed to hazardous materials from the collapse of the World Trade Center.
“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,” the judge said.
She called Whitman’s actions “conscience-shocking,” saying the EPA chief knew that the fall of the twin towers released tons of hazardous materials into the air.
Well, I’m not shocked. Whitman was about as qualified to run the EPA as any other Bush crony. Well, that’s not true. She was better than Michael Brown.
Posted: Fri - February 3, 2006 at 06:04 AM