Charges of air-quality coverup after 9/11

UPI

A former EPA investigator is accusing the U.S. government of lying to the public about New York’s air quality after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Hugh Kaufman, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency’s inquiry into the government’s 9/11 response, says the EPA was directed by the White House to substitute reassuring statements for cautionary ones in its news releases, Newsday reports.

According to Kaufman, a former EPA communications employee told a conference EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and the White House made a conscious effort to reassure the public the air was safe.

Kaufman also accused Whitman of a conflict of interest since her investments included Port Authority bonds and the Port Authority owns the World Trade Center site.

His comments came at the screening of a documentary, “The Toxic Clouds of 9/11,” about Sept. 11-related illnesses.

Other speakers at the Sunday event included first responders who worked on the debris and have since become ill.