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EPA Opens Registration Period for Lower Manhattan Test and Clean Program

Release Date: 01/16/2007
Contact Information: Mary Mears (212) 637-3673 / mears.mary@epa.gov or Bonnie Bellow (212) 637-3660 / bellow.bonnie@epa.gov

(New York, NY) A registration period begins today for EPA’s Lower Manhattan Test and Clean Program, announced last month. Residents and building owners or their authorized representative in Lower Manhattan can call 1-888-747-7725 to register to have the air and dust in their units tested for four contaminants associated with dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center. The program will cover all areas south of Canal and west of Pike and Allen Streets. Priority for testing will be based on a property’s proximity to the World Trade Center site.

“Today we begin this final phase in EPA’s response to the terrorist attacks of September 11,” said Alan J. Steinberg, EPA Regional Administrator. “We plan to begin testing after the registration period has closed and we have prioritized the applicants.”

The registration period runs through March 30. The program applies to both residential and commercial spaces. In order to register for the program, residents and building owners or their authorized representative must call the toll-free hotline, which is available in four languages. The hotline operators will mail a registration package to eligible applicants. Live operators will be available 9:00am to 9:00pm Monday through Friday, 10:00am to 6:00pm on Saturday and 2:00pm to 9:00pm on Sunday. People can leave a message 24 hours a day. The Test and Clean Program and hotline number will be extensively advertised through full-page ads in local papers and through local organizations and businesses, and complete program information and information on how to contact EPA’s Community Involvement Coordinator, can be found on EPA’s Web site at https://www.epa.gov/wtc/testandclean.

Because the majority of occupied residential and commercial spaces in Lower Manhattan have been repeatedly cleaned in the five years since 9/11, EPA scientists believe the potential for exposure to dust that may remain from the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings is low. If analysis, however, of dust and air samples in indoor spaces finds an elevated level of any of four contaminants of concern -- asbestos, man-made vitreous fibers such as fiberglass, lead, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – the contaminants will be cleaned up. Testing of interior spaces is expected to begin after the registration period is closed.