[Federal Register: August 19, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 160)]
[Notices]
[Page 51464-51465]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr19au04-55]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-7803-3]
Sixth Meeting of the World Trade Center Expert Technical Review
Panel and 9/11 World Trade Center Dust Health Effects Conference to
Continue Evaluation on Issues Relating to Impacts of the Collapse of
the World Trade Center Towers
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of meetings.
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SUMMARY: The World Trade Center Expert Technical Review Panel (or WTC
Technical Panel) will hold its sixth meeting intended to provide for
greater input from individuals on ongoing efforts to monitor the
situation for New York residents and workers impacted by the collapse
of the World Trade Center. The panel members will help guide the EPA's
use of the available exposure and health surveillance databases and
registries to characterize any remaining exposures and risks, identify
unmet public health needs, and recommend any steps to further minimize
the risks associated with the aftermath of the World Trade Center
attacks. The panel will meet several times over the course of
approximately two years. These panel meetings will be open to the
public, except where the public interest requires otherwise.
Information on the panel meeting agendas, documents (except where the
public interest requires otherwise), and public registration to attend
the meetings will be available from an Internet web site. EPA has
established an official public docket for this action under Docket ID
No. ORD-2004-0003.
DATES: The sixth meeting of the WTC Technical Panel will be held on
September 13, 2004, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern Daylight Savings
Time. On-site registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. Also, on September
12, 2004, EPA, in collaboration with the New York University
Environmental Lung Health Center/Division of Pulmonary and Critical
Care Medicine, New York University Department of Environmental
Medicine, Fire Department of New York, and Mt. Sinai Department of
Community and Preventative Medicine, will co-sponsor a 9/11 World Trade
Center Dust Health Effects Conference from 12 noon to 5 p.m., Eastern
Daylight Savings Time. This will be a comprehensive health symposium
entailing multidisciplinary research on the health effects of the World
Trade Center disaster.
ADDRESSES: The WTC Technical Panel meeting on September 13 will be held
at St. John's University, Saval Auditorium, 101 Murray Street (between
Greenwich Street and West Side Highway), New York City (Manhattan). The
auditorium is located on the second floor of the building and is
handicap accessible. A government-issued identification (e.g., driver's
license) is required for entry. The 9/11 World Trade Center Dust Health
Effects Conference on September 12 will be held at the Rosenthal
Pavilion in the New York University Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square
South, New York, NY 10012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For WTC Technical Panel meeting
information, registration and logistics, please see the panel's Web
site http://www.epa.gov/wtc/panel or contact ERG at (781) 674-7374. The
meeting agenda and logistical information will be posted on the Web
site and will also be available in hard copy. For further information
regarding the WTC Technical Panel, contact Ms. Lisa Matthews,EPA Office
of the Science Advisor, telephone (202) 564-6669 or e-mail:
matthews.lisa@epa.gov. For further information regarding the 9/11 World
Trade Center Dust Health Effects Conference on September 12, please see
the web site http://www.med.nyu.edu/pulmonary or contact Mr. Derek
Grimes, Senior Research Coordinator, NYU School of Medicine, Division
of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, at (212) 263-2315.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. WTC Technical Panel Meeting Information
Eastern Research Group, Inc., (ERG), an EPA contractor, will
coordinate the WTC Technical Panel meeting. To attend the panel meeting
as an observer, please register by visiting the web site at: http://www.epa.gov/wtc/panel.
You may also register for the meeting by calling
ERG's conference registration line between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5:30
p.m. EDST at (781) 674-7374 or toll free at 1-800-803-2833, or by
faxing a registration request to (781) 674-2906 (include full address
and contact information). Pre-registration is strongly recommended as
space is limited, and registrations are accepted on a first-come,
first-served basis. The deadline for pre-registration is September 8,
2004. Registrations will continue to be accepted after this date,
including on-site registration, if space allows. There will be a
limited time at the meeting for oral comments from the public. Oral
comments will be limited to five (5) minutes each. If you wish to make
a statement during the observer comment period, please check the
appropriate box when you register at the web site. Please bring a copy
of your comments to the meeting for the record or submit them
electronically via e-mail to meetings@erg.com, subject line: WTC.
II. Background Information
Immediately following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on
New York City's World Trade Center, many federal agencies, including
the EPA, were called upon to focus their technical and scientific
expertise on the national emergency. EPA, other federal agencies, New
York City, and New York State public health and environmental
authorities focused on numerous cleanup, dust collection, and ambient
air monitoring activities to ameliorate and better understand the human
health impacts of the disaster. Detailed information concerning the
environmental monitoring activities that were conducted as part of this
response is available at the EPA Response to 9-
[[Page 51465]]
11 web site at http://www.epa.gov/wtc/.
In addition to environmental monitoring, EPA efforts also included
toxicity testing of the dust, as well as the development of a human
exposure and health risk assessment. This risk assessment document,
Exposure and Human Health Evaluation of Airborne Pollution from the
World Trade Center Disaster, is available on the Web at http://www.epa.gov/ncea/wtc.htm
). Numerous additional studies by other Federal
and State agencies, universities, and other organizations have
documented impacts to both the outdoor and indoor environments and to
human health.
While these monitoring and assessment activities were ongoing, and
the cleanup at Ground Zero itself was occurring, EPA began planning for
a program to clean and monitor residential apartments. From June 2002
until December 2002, residents impacted by World Trade Center dust and
debris in an area of about 1 mile by 1 mile south of Canal Street were
eligible to request either federally-funded cleaning and monitoring for
airborne asbestos or monitoring of their residences. The cleanup
continued into the summer of 2003, by which time the EPA had cleaned
and monitored 3,400 apartments and monitored 800 apartments. Detailed
information on this portion of the EPA response is also available at
http://www.epa.gov/wtc/.
A critical component of understanding long-term human health
impacts is the establishment of health registries. The World Trade
Center Health Registry is a comprehensive and confidential health
survey of those most directly exposed to the contamination resulting
from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. It is intended to
give health professionals a better picture of the health consequences
of 9/11. It was established by the Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the New York City Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene (NYCDHMH) in cooperation with a number of academic
institutions, public agencies, and community groups. Detailed
information about the registry can be obtained from the registry Web
site at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/wtc/index.html.
In order to obtain individual advice on the effectiveness of these
programs, unmet needs, and data gaps, the EPA has convened a technical
panel of experts who have been involved with World Trade Center
assessment activities. Dr. Paul Gilman, EPA Science Advisor, serves as
Chair of the panel, and Dr. Paul Lioy, Professor of Environmental and
Community Medicine at the Environmental and Occupational Health
Sciences Institute of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School-UMDNJ and
Rutgers University, serves as Vice Chair. A full list of the panel
members, a charge statement and operating principles for the panel are
available from the panel Web site listed above. Panel meetings
typically will be one-or two-day meetings, and they will occur over the
course of approximately a two-year period. Panel members will provide
individual advice on issues the panel addresses. These meetings will
occur in New York City and nearby locations. All of the meetings will
be announced on the web site and by a Federal Register Notice, and they
will be open to the public for attendance and brief oral comments.
The focus of the sixth meeting of the WTC Technical Panel is to
review status of a sampling and testing proposal (refined based on
input from the July 26 meeting) to determine the geographic extent of
World Trade Center contamination, to provide an update on the World
Trade Center signature validation study, and also to brief the panel
members on current public health studies related to World Trade Center
impacts. Further information on meetings of the WTC Technical Panel can
be found at the web site identified earlier: http://www.epa.gov/wtc/panel.
Also, as noted above, on September 12, 2004, EPA and some
members of the WTC panel will participate in a 9/11 World Trade Center
Dust Health Effects Conference at the New York University Kimmel
Center. This comprehensive health symposium entailing multidisciplinary
research on the health effects of the World Trade Center disaster is
co-sponsored by EPA, New York University Environmental Lung Health
Center/Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, New York
University Department of Environmental Medicine, Fire Department of New
York and Mt. Sinai Department of Community and Preventative Medicine.
III. How to Get Information on E-DOCKET
EPA has established an official public docket for this action under
Docket ID No. ORD-2004-0003. The official public docket consists of the
documents specifically referenced in this action, any public comments
received, and other information related to this action. Although a part
of the official docket, the public docket does not include Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. The official public docket is the collection of
materials that is available for public viewing at the Office of
Environmental Information (OEI) Docket in the Headquarters EPA Docket
Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West Building, Room B102, 1301 Constitution
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading
Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday,
excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading
Room is 202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the OEI Docket is
(202) 566-1752; facsimile: (202) 566-1753; or e-mail:
ORD.Docket@epa.gov.
An electronic version of the public docket is available through
EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, EPA Dockets. You may
use EPA Dockets at http://www.epa.gov/edocket/ to submit or view public
comments, access the index listing of the contents of the official
public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that
are available electronically. Once in the system, select ``search,''
then key in the appropriate docket identification number.
Dated: August 13, 2004.
William H. Farland,
Acting EPA Science Advisor and Assistant Administrator for Research and
Development.
[FR Doc. 04-19050 Filed 8-18-04; 8:45 am]
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