12 Years Later: Remembering 9/11

September 11, 2001. New Yorkers were heading to the polls to vote on the next mayor of the city. It was a morning full of promise and baseball fans were excited about the Yankees' chances of making the playoffs, the Mets thinking about the future, and the start of the new football season. In other words, it was a day not much different than those September days we've been experiencing in the New York City metro area this year.

While everyone was focused on the day ahead, another group of people were thinking about the mission that would forever alter the skyline of NYC and alter history. Al Qaeda's terrorists were already on board four jets bound for New York and Washington DC and had already overpowered the crews.

I was on a NJ Transit train with my dad when I first noticed something wrong at the WTC out of the corner of my eye; it was smoke coming from the upper reaches of the tower.

It was just around 8:45.

The world changed, and I didn't quite realize it.

People watching the morning news didn't know it either at first. But they would soon be glued to broadcasts that showed the horrors of the worst terror attacks ever perpetrated.

The damage done on that morning was nearly impossible to comprehend. In the mere blink of the eye, nearly 3,000 people were condemned to death and the World Trade Center would soon be reduced to a pile of rubble that would burn for weeks on end. Reports would come in that a third plane had struck and damaged the Pentagon.  But the death rattle of the Twin Towers would continue for just under two hours and victims trapped above the fires had to make the choice to stay and choke on the heat and smoke or jump to a certain death. All too many make that decision to jump. Firefighters on the ground also succumbed before the towers fell - falling debris hitting firefighters and fleeing people alike.

Victim Number One would be there to comfort those who fell. Rev. Mychal Judge of the FDNY was comforting fallen firefighters and office workers alike when he was struck and killed by debris. So many people inside the Department and around the City thought so highly of him that he was honored as the first victim of the attacks - so that he could comfort and aid all those many others who were murdered on that day - to guide them to Heaven.

All too many would unfortunately follow him - and not by their own choice.

Here are remembrances of a few of those killed on 9/11, as written by my friend legalbgl for Project 2,996 (and updated to reflect his additional memorializations for 2011 through 2013):

Lt. Col. Jerry Don Dickerson Jr. (2013).
Mary Lenz Wieman (2012).
Mark Francis Broderick (2011).
Captain Patrick J. Brown (2010).
Hagay Shefi (2009).
Alison Marie Wildman (2008).
Daniel Thomas Afflito (2007).

Coming full circle, on May 1, 2011, the United States finally caught up with Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. In a daring raid on a compound near Pakistan's military academy, US special forces killed bin Laden and captured a treasure trove of intel.  That's small consolation for the thousands of families and friends who still grieve the senseless murder of their loved ones in New York, Washington DC at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The profound loss is a heavy burden on all those who were there and on those who lost loved ones. While television crews jockeyed for spots overlooking the Ground Zero site, the death of bin Laden would not bring solace to those who lost loved ones, nor would it bring their loved ones back.

Local commemorations are already underway and will continue through the week throughout the region. And there are those in the area who are still suffering from the medical effects of exposure to the air at Ground Zero.

The federal government created the James Zadroga health and compensation fund because of the ongoing health concerns of those who carried out relief and recovery efforts at Ground Zero. More people are seeking assistance via the program, including those emergency responders who came from across the country to spell the FDNY and NYPD and PAPD in the grim task of recovering the remains of those murdered.

Emergency personnel were at Ground Zero around the clock for weeks on end before officials would claim that the site had officially been cleared of remains. Many of them, plus those living near Ground Zero would later become ill from the effects of breathing in all the dust and debris that was pulverized by the collapsing towers, and it is one of the sadder chapters from 9/11 that we are still burying victims of the attacks to this day, including James Zadroga.

People who risked their lives to save others and to help families who lost loved ones find remains of the victims are themselves victims of the attacks. The Zadroga Act isn't perfect by any means and it has come too late for some, but it's a start to compensate and aid families of responders who are suffering from all manner of ailments  attributed to Ground Zero exposure.

The death toll, which was once feared to be more than we could bear - in the tens of thousands, would eventually drop to around 2,742 at the World Trade Center. However, that count continues rising as more emergency personnel working at Ground Zero succumb to ailments attributed to exposures at Ground Zero. The head of the PBA says that the total number of cops who have died from medical ailments related to the 9/11 attacks is greater than the number who died during the attacks themselves. More than 1,100 people have cancers attributed to exposure at Ground Zero. Over 65,000 are registered with the WTC Registry. Some of their names will eventually be added to the roll of those killed in the attacks.

Construction at the site now dominates discussion, though there are unsettling discoveries made from time to time. Workers at the site of the proposed Park 51 / Cordoba House Islamic Center found part of the landing gear of one of the planes wedged between the building and an adjacent one.

The past 10 years have been a near constant reminder of the profound sense of absence. 1WTC (aka the Freedom Tower) has finally recaptured part of the skyline. 1WTC is still under construction but the antenna and external structures are complete. The base and interior work continues.

Construction of the Transit Hub is also underway, and Santiago Calatrava's design now peeks out above ground as well.

The WTC Transit Hub from Greenwich Street at Vesey

Looking down Greenwich St at the WTC Transit Hub and 3 and 4 WTC

4WTC exterior finished; the building needs interior work, but is in its final form.

2 and 3 WTC are only being built as a stub capable of being completed to their originally designed heights. Unless Larry Silverstein receives commitments to lease space, they will remain as stub buildings that provide retail commercial space for the foreseeable future. 4WTC will be opened to business in November. It's likely that work will restart later this year on 3WTC as there have been rumblings of a deal in the works for leases of significant amounts of space in the tower with GroupM. The 1WTC Observatory will take longer to open,  but Conde Nast will be moving into its offices in 1WTC in 2014 and retail spaces in 3 and 4 WTC will be opening in the coming year courtesy of Silverstein and Westfield Properties.

Fiterman Hall

Meanwhile, Fiterman Hall has now been opened for a full year as students from the Borough of Manhattan Community College have been able to use the facility for classes.

While the National 9/11 Memorial opened in time for the 10th anniversary, the National 9/11 Museum at the World Trade Center had been delayed due to an ongoing battle over who is responsible for certain costs. The museum foundation and the Port Authority had fought over hundreds of millions in costs, and the resulting delay meant that the earliest it would open is early 2014.

The delays were made worse as a result of the damage done by Hurricane Sandy. That included flooding of the museum facilities that are under the podium containing the memorial. It turns out that the battle over costs between the memorial foundation and the Port Authority was a blessing in disguise. It meant that facilities weren't finished out and artifacts weren't in place when lower Manhattan was flooded by Sandy. It also means that the facilities will have to address protecting the artifacts from future storms.

Then, there's the cost to operate the museum when it eventually opens in conjunction with the memorial. The WTC Memorial Foundation estimates it will cost $60 million a year to operate the memorial and museum, which is far out of line from other memorials operated by the National Park Service. It makes tremendous sense and it is logical for the 9/11 museum and memorial to be operated by the NPS instead of the private foundation because of cost containment and the ability to manage the myriad details that come along with such a sensitive site and one of national and international importance.

Millions of people have already paid their respects and visited the 9/11 memorial, and the site has fast become a touchstone for those visiting the city. Tourists from around the country and the world flock to the area to see the new construction and to visit the memorial.

One of the stumbling blocks continues to be whether the museum will charge a fee for entry. I've long argued against any kind of entry fee as well as stripping the memorial foundation of the authority to run the facility and instead put the NPS in charge. The NPS does a tremendous job managing sites around the nation, and the memorial and museum should come under the NPS umbrella. However, without Congressional action, the situation will remain in flux and we should expect to see entry fees imposed on those visiting the site (we already see the foundation making "mandatory" suggested donations for access to the memorial). I wouldn't be surprised if the entry fee runs $20 or more. As more than 4 million visit annually, that would mean $80 million in revenues towards operations.

The Port Authority, which owns the entire site, had been building the infrastructure necessary for other components of the site, including the Vehicle Security Center, the PATH transit hub, and the museum. All three are seriously over budget and are years behind schedule. The PATH Transit hub was among the worst offenders. It was supposed to have been completed in 2009 for $2.2 billion, and yet the earliest it may be finished is 2016 at a cost of more than $4 billion.

When one looks at the recently enacted toll and fare hikes, the cost overrun for PATH turns out to be nearly the entire amount of revenue expected to be raised from the hikes. That's inexcusable; the overruns on the transit hub sap the Port Authority's ability to handle other critical infrastructure projects around the region, and commuters to Lower Manhattan and businesses that want to consider Lower Manhattan have to take into account that the World Trade Center area is still one vast construction site.

When one realizes that the Port Authority gave up the trademark rights to the World Trade Center and WTC to a foundation started by a former employee of the agency for $10, you can begin to understand how poorly the authority had handled its assets over the years. A new report by the Bergen Record found that the Port Authority has no record of this deal being done, which makes this whole situation even more bizarre. After all, it's a former head of the agency involved - Guy Tozzoli.  It's why I don't think the agency has managed its assets well, nor handled the rebuilding in a cost-effective and efficient manner.

The Port Authority said Monday that it had no record of its governing board approving a 1986 deal that handed over ownership of the World Trade Center name for $10. And the agency’s top executive at the time said he didn’t recall it ever coming across his desk.

That added to the mystery surrounding how the Port Authority came to sell the vaunted name of its Manhattan landmark to a group run by a retiring agency executive who made millions in the years that followed.

The Christie administration, which jointly steers the agency with New York’s governor, slammed the deal on Monday, in response to a story in The Record a day earlier.

“You can be sure that would never happen under this administration,” Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said. “I’d venture to say that if something like that was done today, it would probably draw the attention of the United States Attorney’s Office.”

The Port Authority essentially handed over one of its most valuable assets to a former executive who has made a ton of coin over the deal, and has even cost the agency money to continue using the name. Had the agency retained the rights to the name and licensed the name to other entities as the WTCA has done, the Port Authority would have had millions of dollars of revenue that it could have used to fund ongoing operations and projects.

Meanwhile, nearby transit projects are slowly inching towards completion, including the Fulton Transit Center a block east of Ground Zero. That project, run by the MTA, is similarly over budget and late. However, it's far closer to completion than the PATH hub. When finished, the Fulton Center would link with the PATH transit hub by the Dey Street connector, and ultimately those working at the World Financial Center would be able to access Fulton Center without having to travel outside. It's likely to be opened in time for when 4WTC is opened for business later this year.

The skyline will never be the same. Neither will our hearts, which are heavy with the loss and supreme sacrifices made on 9/11 by the rescue personnel who bravely rushed up the towers even as people were racing to get out of the towers or gasping as people were forced to jump to their deaths to avoid being burned alive in the fires that racked the towers.

We remember.

Tribute in Light

Looking up at 1WTC and 7WTC.

More photos of Ground Zero and the rebuilding at the World Trade Center, as taken from 4WTC, which is scheduled to open next year.

The WTC as seen from Hoboken.

For my prior year recollections and postings, see September 11, 2012, 10 Years Later,  September 11, 2010, September 11, 2009,  September 11, 2008, September 11, 2007, September 11, 2006, and September 11, 2005.

Health Panel Indicates Intention To Cover First Responders' Cancer Under Zadroga Act

This is a big deal to many emergency personnel and construction crews who worked in and around Ground Zero following the 9/11 attacks and have since been diagnosed with cancer. The health care panel created by Congress to determine whether ailments should or shouldn't be covered under the James Zadroga Act voted to cover cancer under the Act's compensation provisions:

Hundreds of 9/11 first responders could receive compensation for their cancer treatment after an advisory panel voted Thursday that the disease should be covered under the Zadroga Act.

The 15-member panel, appointed by Congress to review research and decide which health conditions are linked to toxins at Ground Zero following the Sept. 11 attacks, believes research clearly shows a link between 9/11 exposure and cancer, said panel member Catherine McVay Hughes.
"The committee agreed that cancer should be included [in the Zadroga Act]," said Hughes, who is also vice chairwoman of Community Board 1. "This is a major step in the right direction."

The panel will now draft a list of all the specific cancers they believe ought to be covered. Based on the existing research, the preliminary list discussed at Thursday's meeting would include blood cancers, lymphoma, leukemia, lung cancer, mesothelioma, multiple myeloma and others, Hughes said.

The panel, called the World Trade Center Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee, will submit a final recommendation on cancer to the federal government within the next couple of weeks.

Dr. John Howard, the World Trade Center health program administrator for the federal government, will make the final decision by early April on which cancers, if any, should be covered, Hughes said.

If cancer is officially included in the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, those who are sick with cancer and the families of those who have died from the disease will be able to apply to the $2.8 billion 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund to cover their medical expenses, as well as pain and suffering.

Will Zadroga Act Cover Cancer?

That's the multibillion dollar question being asked after a report released by Dr. John Howard, the director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, found no connection between exposures at Ground Zero and any multitude of cancers that Ground Zero responders believe to be caused by that exposure.

But the report, released by Dr. John Howard, the director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, said that there was very little evidence to go on, as there have only been 18 published research studies on the attack that even mentioned cancer, and only five of those were peer-reviewed. The results of the peer-reviewed studies were mixed.

Even if it appeared that the events of 9/11 caused cancer in certain people, it would be hard to prove because cancer is widespread in the general population. In the United States, the probability that a person will develop cancer over a lifetime is one in two for men and one in three for women, the report said.

“Drawing causal inferences about exposures resulting from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the observation of cancer cases in responders and survivors is especially challenging since cancer is not a rare disease,” the report said.

The report was required by the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which took effect on Jan. 2; it provides $4.3 billion over the next five years to monitor, treat and compensate people who were exposed to the fumes and dust.

The act provides treatment and compensation for a specific list of illnesses, mainly asthma and other respiratory diseases. As part of a political compromise needed to pass the bill, cancer was not included. A provision of the law, however, specified that the administrator of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health would periodically review the evidence to determine whether cancer, which could be one of the most expensive illnesses to treat and compensate for, should be added to the list.

This goes to basic epidemiology. Scientists have to look at the specific incidence of a given disease and determine whether there is an increased rate. Then, they have to see whether there's more than a casual connection with exposure at Ground Zero.

The NIOSH will periodically review the findings, but it will take further studies to show that there's an actual cancer link between 9/11 and the responders' incidence of cancer. So, while a link hasn't been shown to date, this doesn't mean that within the next several years that the link wont be proven.

All this is cold comfort to those who are suffering from cancers they believe were the result of service at Ground Zero following the 9/11 attacks, and who believed that they would be covered by the Zadroga Act.

Dr. Howard may be the official responsible for not including cancers among the compensated illnesses, but that doesn't mean that other doctors treating Ground Zero responders aren't finding a connection.

Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, head of a 9/11 treatment, monitoring and research program at Mount Sinai Medical Center, said Tuesday that the possibility of cancer in the responders increases as time goes by. Mount Sinai, he said, is tracking the rates of 60 different cancers, and will be feeding that information to the federal government.

Dr. Landrigan said his researchers were looking especially hard at multiple myeloma, because they had already found eight cases — an unusually high number — in responders younger than 45. Usually, he said, myeloma is found in people who are older.

Landrigan and his fellow doctors have to publish their findings and get others to confirm those findings, before it can be added.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 141

There's a pretty frenetic pace of work going on around Ground Zero these days.

The Freedom Tower continues rising. The glass exterior is keeping pace with the rising steel, and scaffolding has now appeared on the mechanical spaces from the 10-20 story level, which means that those spaces will soon get their cladding.

Fiterman Hall is getting its outer skin and windows. While the exterior appears to be glass and brick, the brick was installed in large panels so that there wasn't any actual bricklaying on site.

Even work on the foundations for 2WTC are underway.

The Port Authority is even working on leasing arrangements for the retail space that will occupy significant portions of the underground space in and around the PATH Transit Hub. It's working out a deal with Westfield Properties that began with talks in 2008 to fill the space:

These sources said the Port wants to know by mid-fall if it can seal a deal with Westfield. That would give the agency enough time to either find another partner or move forward by itself in developing a plan for the approximately 360,000 square feet of retail space that will be initially built at the site. Roughly 200,000 square feet of that space is in the Calatrava transit hub, which is slated to open in 2014.

In 2008, the Port Authority and Westfield signed a letter of intent whereby the Port agreed to provide approximately $825 million toward the $1.45 billion project, with Westfield providing the other $625 million. However, that deal was based on projections of about 488,000 square feet of retail space. That total has shrunk, in part because there are no immediate plans to build one of Larry Silverstein's three towers.

Meanwhile, a federal circuit court ruled that the Port Authority can be sued by Con Ed and its insurers over the collapse of 7WTC on 9/11. A lower court judge, Alvin Hellerstein, had precluded Con Ed's suit, claiming that the terms of the lease prevented Con Ed from suing the Port Authority on a negligence claim.

However, a portion of Hellerstein's decision was upheld, relating to Con Ed's failure to provide timely notice on certain claims.

"In short, we conclude it was error to read the parties' lease as precluding claims by Con Edison against Port Authority premised on Port Authority's negligence in connection with the construction of 7WTC or the installation of the diesel fuel tanks in the building," the appeals court order said.

But the order upholds the lower court judge on the more general negligence claim, saying Con Edison had not properly notified the Port Authority of its intention to sue on those grounds.

Overall, this ruling opens up the Port Authority to significant financial liability and stems from claims that the Port Authority had improperly allowed its tenants (the New York City Office of Emergency Management) to place diesel fuel tanks used for back-up power, and that the burning tanks had accelerated the collapse of the building late in the afternoon of September 11.

Also, the special master under the Zadroga Act has expanded the geographical area of coverage, but that doesn't satisfy all those who claim to be affected as it excludes areas in Chinatown and Brooklyn where dust and debris came down.

UPDATE:
From the Port Authority site:

1 WTC Construction Status

Steel has risen to the 70th floor.
Installation of glass curtain wall has risen to the 44th floor
Installation of concrete floors has risen to the 64th floor
Installation of podium glass will begin in 2012 to allow for construction activities and deliveries to proceed in this area.

US Senate Reaches Compromise on Zadroga 9/11 Compensation Fund Package; UPDATE: Passes Senate On Unanimous Consent - Back To House

The James Zadroga 9/11 compensation bill may be approved this afternoon after Senate reached a compromise - reducing the package to $4.3 billion (originally $7+ billion).

The scaled-down $4.3 billion agreement to aid ill 9/11 responders is set to be approved by the Senate as soon as Wednesday afternoon. The initial Zadroga bill called for a 10-year, $7.4 billion treatment and compensation package. To win GOP support, the proposal was trimmed down to 5 years at $4.3 billion.
The last-minute deal also opens the 9/11 Victims' Compensation Fund, but caps lawyers fees at 10%.

And it bars ailing responders from double-dipping on payouts from the recent 9/11 health settlement.

The bill cuts the time frame that the VCF will remain open to five years, which is the main reason that the fund cost is decreased. This doesn't mean that Congress wont go back and reopen the fund, just as they're about to do with this measure.

What it does is it leaves the VCF open for another five years to allow for new claims- which allows responders who become ill up to 13/14 years after the attacks to file claims. The health registry will also be funded.

Mind you that there are still questions about what ailments are actually attributable to Ground Zero exposures. Proponents of the Zadroga bill say that hundreds have died from Ground Zero exposures, while epidemiologists and medical experts are divided on the actual number of cases attributed to 9/11 exposure.

What will be interesting is how people who were involved in the 9/11 suit with the City respond - with no double dipping, some may lose out on the additional compensation via the VCF. That's going to be a major source of trouble. Rescuers and others who worked at Ground Zero after the attacks were told to take that deal because the $712 million deal would be the best they could hope to get from the City of New York and its co-defendants. If these personnel choose to receive compensation from the settlement, that would prevent them from taking part in the VCF, even if their ailment expresses itself within the next five years.

These people are in a no-win situation.

UPDATE:
Curiously, the readers at Hot Air are miffed at the Republicans for rolling over and accepting even this deal (such as here, here, and here). They are fit to be tied over spending $4.3 billion, ignoring the fact that these people went into the Pile to rescue and recover thousands murdered on 9/11 and were reassured that the air was safe to breath by the US government (EPA) and state and local officials. They are suffering ailments from exposures and now these people think that this is somehow an entitlement for unions and Democrats?

Sorry, but that just doesn't cut it.

The government had a responsibility to look out for these responders and provide compensation for illnesses suffered as a result of their exposure. This bill makes sure that many of these people will get compensated for their health ailments. This isn't a sop to unions or Democrats, and it isn't in the same class of out-of-control spending as the stimulus package or even the Omnibus bill that was defeated. Republican obstructionism did not do the GOP any favors and the reduced price tag on this bill wasn't worth the cost politically.

UPDATE:
The bill has passed on unanimous consent. Because different versions are involved, it has to go back to the House for ultimate passage - but I think this version will ultimately be passed.

Sen. Gillibrand: 9/11 Health Bill Has Votes To Pass

You would think that the James Zadroga 9/11 health care/compensation bill would have had the votes to pass long ago, but this bill has been held up by politics for far too long. Now, Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) says that the votes are now available after certain portions of the bill have been scaled back.

Both the House and Senate must approve the bill before the end of the year. If they do not, the matter gets kicked to the new, more Republican Congress in January, where prospects for passage are slimmer.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is vowing to do everything possible to get the new version of the bill passed in her chamber before the lame-duck session ends, though it is not clear there there will be time to do so. (The House passed the $7.4 billion version of the bill in September.) Over the weekend, Schumer urged the House to stay in session to pass the bill.

The bill got 57 votes in a recent Senate test vote, three short of the 60 it needs to break a Republican-led filibuster. One of those no votes, however, was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who switched his vote at the end so that he could bring the bill up again. That means only two votes need to be picked up for passage, assuming no senator switches from yes to no.

The new version of the bill addresses Republican objections that it amounted to a corporate tax increase, the Associated Press reports. They objected to a requirement that multinational corporations pay taxes on income earned in the United States even if they are incorporated in a tax haven.

The new version pays for the costs of the bill with a fee on some foreign companies that get procurement contracts from the U.S. government. It also calls for an extension of some visa-related fees.

The newer version would reduce the cost of the bill from $7.4 billion to $6.2 billion without reducing the benefits that go to the Ground Zero responders by adjusting tax provisions.

The bill would reopen the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund for Ground Zero responders and provide additional funds for those responders and additional medical screening services.

Zadroga 9/11 Bill In Limbo As Sen. Collins Calls Cops On 9/11 Responders

9/11 responders who are trying to get Congress to get off their collective ass and vote for the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act found themselves facing cops called on them by Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine.

Even before the nine responders had a chance to start visiting senators' offices - where they intended to stay until meeting with lawmakers - they were greeted by Capitol Police, who had been called by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me.).

Collins apparently reacted to a story in Thursday's News, which quoted a letter to senators from 9/11 advocate John Feal. It warned that he and others planned to sit in offices until they got meetings - or the police made them leave.

Collins is among the senators the 9/11 community hopes will come over to their side, but her call to authorities left them wondering if they could succeed.

"I'm deeply disappointed in Sen. Collins for calling the Capitol Police, but they welcomed us with open arms," said Feal, although he wound up with a police escort for the first stops on his visit.

"I'm more disappointed that Susan Collins is hiding behind ideology, and now the police, to stop from helping us. And the people she called to stop us are just like us. It's a little ironic."

Officers eventually determined he and his team were not threatening and left them alone.

This is legislation that should have had bipartisan support and passage should have happened long ago. Politicians are playing this issue for political advantage, and the health of the thousands who labored on the Pile for weeks and months following the attacks is an afterthought. Republicans are blocking approval, primarily through parliamentary tactics and claiming that this legislation would get a vote if other legislation, particularly the tax package, is passed first. Democrats aren't blameless here either, as they could have had a clean vote on the Zadroga bill, but instead attached it to the defense bill along with DADT rather than treating the bills separately - increasing the chances of passage.

These are workers who have found that workers compensation isn't working; many of the affected individuals are finding it hard to obtain workers comp claims. For instance, one worker, who claimed he was ill as a result of working as a volunteer on the Pile for 28 days couldn't receive workers comp because the NYS Workers Comp Board didn't find sufficient evidence.

Illnesses resulting from 9/11 exposures (and the resulting cleanup) may not show themselves for years or decades, although some people (some figures may be in the hundreds) have already died from what they and their doctors are saying was 9/11 related illnesses.

The Zadroga Fund would provide additional compensation and would be set up like the general VCF administered by Ken Feinberg. It would further complement the $712 million settlement between the city and plaintiffs who sued over Ground Zero exposures. The Zadroga bill would also provide funding for additional screening and medical studies to track potential diseases resulting from long term exposures.

The causation issue is the biggest hurdle, even if the bill gets passed. The bill includes monitoring, and considering that workers came from all over the country to help recover remains of those murdered on 9/11, a national registry is necessary.

The text of the bill includes screening-eligible criteria, including those who were WTC responders and WTC survivors, and has a WTC registry along with an application process.

As for the number who have reportedly died as a result from exposures, the number may be in the hundreds and as high as 900 according to advocates for the responders:

According to advocates for the responders and their families, approximately 900 people have so far died from ailments contracted while working on the pile, and that first responders are currently dying at a rate of three a month. James Zadroga, a New York City police detective, is the first known Ground Zero responder to die, in 2006, from illness contracted there.

The number who have claimed 9/11 related illnesses is much greater, and among that number, there may be cases that are unrelated to service at Ground Zero - firefighting results in exposure to chemicals and materials that could lead to respiratory ailments or other diseases being seen among those claiming 9/11 related ailments. It's up to the epidemiologists to discern whether the ailments are resulting from exposures at Ground Zero and time exposed at Ground Zero.

Complicating matters is the fact that some personnel opted not to use rebreathers or masks, and others were using inadequate masks, while still others chose not to use the masks on the EPA claiming that the air was safe four days after the attack.

Using the full oxygen masks (carrying the tanks on their backs) greatly reduced time on the pile and some personnel made the decision to forgo the masks perhaps on the basis of claims that the air was clean 4 days after the attacks. You can see from photos later on 9/11 after the collapse that firefighters were already on the pile and in the vicinity of the collapse without masks. Heck, I was walking past the site a few weeks later (while the fires were still burning) without a mask and probably was exposed to some level of contaminants - as was pretty much everyone else who lived downwind of Ground Zero while the recovery efforts were ongoing (and that includes Lower Manhattan, parts of New Jersey and Brooklyn and Staten Island.

The politics that have held up a compensation package has been asinine because as Jon Stewart has said - the politicians will say that these workers were heroes, but now that they need the government's backing to provide assistance in their time of need, the politicians are no where to be found to vote on legislation that would provide a measure of compensation for their service.

I expounded on this back in 2006, when the issue of Ground Zero workers was becoming a major concern. We owe it to these workers to not let them be turned into the US version of the Chernobyl liquidators who were left in the dark about what dangers they were exposed to and the ailments they and their families had to live with and die from.

House Passes Zadroga 9/11 Health Compensation Bill; Senate and President Signing Await

I'm thankful that the James Zadroga 9/11 Health Compensation Bill (HR 847) passed the House a short time ago.

It's still unbelievable that the vote was not unanimous. The vote was 268 to 160, sufficient to pass.

The bill had previously come up for a vote at the end of July, but was defeated 255-159 when the Democrats demanded that the bill require 2/3 majority to prevent Republicans from attaching any riders to the legislation and Republicans in turn voted against the sorely needed legislation to aid workers affected by their work at Ground Zero during the recovery and relief efforts.

"This is not a New York issue, our nation was attacked and those who are suffering come from all 50 states, and 428 of the 435 congressional districts nationwide -- nearly every member of Congress -- has constituents who lost their health because of the attacks," said Democratic Manhattan-Queens Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, one of the bill's sponsors.

"The EPA, despite ample evidence to the contrary, kept falsely proclaiming that the air was safe to breathe. It wasn't," said Democratic Manhattan-Brooklyn Congressman Jerrold Nadler, another sponsor of the bill. "The terrorists caused an environmental catastrophe but the federal government compounded the damage by telling people that the environment was safe when it wasn't, and now thousands of people are sick and in need of special care. We have a moral obligation to treat those who became ill, and that's what this bill is all about."

"The toxins are in their blood. All of that now is coming forward," said Republican Long Island Congressman Peter King, another sponsor of the bill. "You see people in the prime of life -- 40, 50 years old, people who run marathons, people who were in the peak of shape -- dying slowly in front of us."

Ground Zero responders came from around the country and indeed from around the world to help recover the remains of those murdered on 9/11 and some of them have suffered horribly from the inhalation of a melange of chemicals and materials pulverized by the collapsing towers and set alight by the multiple fires that raged for weeks following the attacks. More than a few responders have died with the cause of death attributed to their exposures at Ground Zero.

Critics have complained that the fund would be open to fraud and abuse, and funding for the program.

There are ways to ensure that the funding goes where it is supposed to and that only those who deserve compensation receive it. But to deny all these workers compensation and adequate care for doing the selfless work of trying to rescue and recover the victims of the 9/11 attacks is simply abhorrent.

House Democrats Punt on 9/11 First Responder Bill; Senate Moves Ahead

This time, there's absolutely no ambiguity over who is to blame for again failing to address and pass a first responder medical assistance package. Democrats have delayed the vote once again, even though there were signs that it would have been done this week. Democrats are claiming that the want a pledge from Republicans to not attach an anti-illegal immigration provision to the bill.

That follows yesterday's surprise announcement that the Senate would attach the provisions to the military funding bill. The $7.4 billion package, named after James Zadroga, would provide medical treatment and assistance for Ground Zero responders suffering from medical ailments that can be traced to the responders' work at Ground Zero.

However, even the Senate version isn't a done deal given that the Democrats attached a provision to end "don't ask, don't tell" and another provision that would grant kids of illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship if they are in the armed services or college which has Republicans upset.

That's all despite the fact that a new slew of studies have found that those firefighters who worked at Ground Zero have four times worse lung capacity than those firefighters had before the 9/11 attacks. Children living in Chinatown have an increased susceptibility to lung ailments, and one study even noted that a group children born to women who were pregnant on 9/11 suffered from a wide range of ailments that are seemingly linked to the exposure to contaminants released in the collapsing towers.

In other words, good legislation that would ordinarily pass with widespread support is being used as a political football by both parties to attach (or threaten to attach) more offensive and controversial legislation.

Some legislation should be above this kind of petty politics; this is one of those situations.

The Sad Tale of James Zadroga

I've written about the sad tale of James Zadroga in the past. He died of an illness that many, including his family, attributed to inhalation of Ground Zero dust.

A medical examiner has found that the cause of death was not inhalation of Ground Zero dust (Zadroga had spent 470 hours at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the collapse), but rather because he was injecting painkillers.

"It is our opinion that that material entered his body via the bloodstream and not via the airways," Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for Chief Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch, told The Associated Press.

Borakove said ground-up painkillers that Zadroga was injecting caused his lung disease, noting that traces of the pills were found in his lung tissue.

Zadroga died in January 2006 of scardiosis, a lung-scarring disease.

Hirsch released his determination that Zadroga's death was not related to 9/11 a week ago.

But at the time, he would only publicly confirm that Zadroga's death was not the result of exposure to toxic dust, a finding that he said he believed "with certainty beyond doubt."

The cop's father yesterday adamantly rejected the ME's finding.

James Zadroga Sr. said his son was taking more than a dozen medications to cope with his illnesses when he died, including anti-anxiety medicine and painkillers such as OxyContin. But he insisted his son never ground up pills and injected them.

Noted pathologist and former NYC Chief Medical Examiner Michael Baden disputes the findings, noting that the pathology reports did not mention any needle marks and that tissue slides from Zadroga's lungs showed particulate matter close to the airways. A New Jersey medical examiner had previously found that Zadroga had died from inhaling toxic dust at Ground Zero.

What a mess.

All we know is that Mr. Zadroga is dead and no one appears to know with certainty what killed him. This is a situation that is sure to be repeated over and over as others who worked at Ground Zero come down with ailments that may or may not be connected to their service there.

It also points to the problems with those individuals who make various health claims with 100% certainty in relation to 9/11 and Ground Zero exposure. The only thing we can be certain of is that we don't know all that there is to know about the medical effects.

The Battle For Ground Zero, Part 210

The number of people who are signed up with one of the WTC health clinics continues to rise, not only as more people become aware of the program, but because more are coming down with what many call the WTC cough.

The Bellevue Hospital/NYU School of Medicine clinic has enrolled more than 300 additional patients since Mayor Bloomberg's announcement last fall of plans for a $16 million program expansion. It now serves more than 800 patients.

"We're finding people predominantly with upper- and lower-respiratory problems," said clinic director Dr. Joan Reibman. "We're getting more office workers and people who were caught up in the dust cloud."

Symptoms include asthma, sinusitis and shortness of breath, Reibman said. Bellevue had focused on treating downtown residents and office workers but now has the resources to see many more patients. Mount Sinai Hospital's 9/11 monitoring program has treated thousands of rescue and office workers.

The mayor and Health and Hospitals Corp. President Alan Aviles are expected to officially unveil the expanded Bellevue center this week. It will have more clinical space and beefed up staffing to eventually treat 6,000 patients exposed to Ground Zero contaminants.

Some local politicians think that a portion of the WTC memorial needs to be set aside for the Ground Zero workers who cleared the debris and died as a result of ailments links back to their service. I think this is a very good idea, though I'm sure it will not sit well with Bloomberg.

Two state lawmakers say they'll introduce legislation tomorrow requiring the Ground Zero museum to memorialize all workers who died from illnesses after toiling in the cleanup and recovery following 9/11.

"What we want to do is put to rest this question of whether . . . people . . . are dying because of their work here," co-sponsor Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) said yesterday at Ground Zero.

Joseph Zadroga, father of NYPD Detective James Zadroga, the first rescue worker to die of a confirmed 9/11-related illness, said the new law would fulfill a deathbed vow he made to his son.

"I promised him that his death would not be in vain," said Zadroga, who was with several ailing first responders and their relatives at Ground Zero yesterday. "The day they put that memorial up with his name on it . . . my job will be done."

World Trade Center Memorial Foundation Vice President Lynn Rasic said the museum would honor fallen first responders with or without the legislation.

The Daily News has more. Meanwhile, the city is going to be slapped with a $20 million lawsuit over the death of another Ground Zero worker. The wife of a utility repairman, Mark DeBiase, 41, who restored essential cellphone service at Ground Zero - and died last year of pulmonary fibrosis filed the suit against the city. Pulmonary fibrosis is the same disease that resulted in the deaths of Detective James Zadroga and Police Officer Cesar Borja, among others.

Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, Pataki, LMDC, urban policy, Freedom Tower, spitzer, silverstein, mount sinai, respiratory ailment, wtc cough, bloomberg.

The New Liquidators

Are we witnessing another uncomfortable repeat of history? It certainly seems that there are some striking parallels between the way the US government is handling the health of those workers who answered the call to clear Ground Zero and those who did the same at Chernobyl 20 years ago. April 28, 1986 marked the date that Chernobyl's nuclear power plant number 4 exploded, releasing clouds of radioactive materials into the atmosphere and causing extensive damage the area. The first firefighters arriving on the scene had no idea what they were up against, and they quickly succumbed to massive doses of radiation poisoning. The Soviet government quickly marshaled together a huge force of soldiers and conscripts to undertake the
massive task of extinguishing the fires and creating a containment facility for the devastated reactor building. It took more than a week to extinguish the fires.

Those people who sought to contain the fires and radiation came to be known as liquidators. Many had no idea what they were dealing with and soldiered on to complete the task of enclosing the destroyed nuclear reactor in a concrete sarcophagus that would hopefully contain the nuclear materials still present at the
site. The soldiers swarmed the nearby countryside trying to gather together nuclear materials so that they can be disposed of.

The concrete sarcophagus was built and the immediate danger of further radioactive releases from the destroyed reactor was contained. The liquidators went on with their lives although some unknown number came down with illnesses that could be linked back to their time cleaning up the Chernobyl site. No one quite knows the numbers who succumbed from Chernobyl because the Soviets desperately sought to hide the truth not only from the West, but from their own people. There are no accurate numbers of those killed or injured from Chernobyl - the numbers range from under 100 to the tens of thousands.

Meanwhile, a world away and nearly two decades later, on September 11, 2001, Islamic terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged more than a dozen other buildings in Lower Manhattan. Millions of square feet of office space was in ruins or contaminated by debris from the collapsed towers. A huge rescue and recovery effort was mounted by emergency personnel and construction workers. Fires burned at the site for months, with smoke, gases, and particulates pouring from the pile. All through this time, those workers worked around the clock to find remains so that loved ones could gain some semblance of closure and clear the site.

Those people worked on the Pile for months at end until the nearly 2 million tons of rubble, remains, and debris was cleared from the site.

Throughout that time, the workers were assured that the air was within safety limits and that as long as they used respirators and other safety equipment they would not suffer any ill effects.

We now know that the EPA should not have made definitive statements assuring workers that the air was safe to breathe. It was not. The air was contaminated with all sorts of materials, including volatile organic compounds, pulverized concrete, and
asbestos. Respirators and other safety masks were either eschewed or their utility limited in dealing with all the contaminants.

So it is worrisome that we now hear about cases of those working on the Pile suffering the ill-effects from their endeavors. Some have become permanently disabled due to respiratory ailments, and in one instance, a New Jersey medical examiner ruled that police officer James Zadroga died as a result of working at the Pile. Zadroga spent 470 hours working on the Pile.

Some have made excuses their illnesses noting the difficult job of tracing the source of a variety of ailments to exposure at Ground Zero. City, state and
federal law make it incredibly difficult for some to obtain needed health care or disability payments because the statute of limitations comes into play. The City Health Department is currently tracking 70,000 people to see whether they are suffering ill effects from exposure to Ground Zero contaminants. A study at Mount Sinai Medical Center has found that 70% of those working at Ground Zero have suffered some form of respiratory ailment as a result of working at Ground Zero. That could be anything from respiratory failure to nagging coughs or other issues. 61% of those who now suffer from these ailments were not sick prior to their service at Ground Zero.

Mount Sinai Medical Center doctors - who said the study provides conclusive proof that the WTC site caused illnesses - also found 61 percent of first responders and cleanup workers had no health problems before 9/11 and became ill after working downtown.

Another 9 percent had pre-existing health ailments - such as asthma - but became sicker from working at or near the collapsed trade centers.

One-third had "abnormal" lung capacity - more than double the national rate. And the number of workers who came down with pneumonia also increased significantly, the report said.

The men and women who worked on the Pile and completed this task deserve to be treated better than the liquidators who cleaned up Chernobyl. They should get honest and unvarnished information from all levels of the government about the air conditions at the site. There should be recognition that some of those at the site eschewed the use of the respirators and other safety equipment and that this may have contributed to the declining health conditions of some workers. And
most importantly, ensuring that they have access to medical care and treatment for Ground Zero related ailments should be the absolute minimum. This shouldn't be about cost. It should be about honoring those who did the hard work of clearing the site of
the worst terrorist attack on US soil and remembering that those attacks are still claiming victims.

The City has announced a plan to deal with the health crisis, and includes guidelines for identifying ailments relating to work at Ground Zero. That's an important step, as is further study to determine not only what is causing the ailments facing these people, but finding treatments and cures to these potentially fatal conditions.

Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, pataki, LMDC, mount sinai, respiratory ailment, wtc cough, bloomberg.

Plus One

The 9/11 terrorist attacks are still claiming victims; a New Jersey cornoner ruled that a police detective who spent weeks sifting through the pile at Ground Zero died of causes directly related to exposure to the air at Ground Zero.

As I noted earlier tonite:
UPDATE:
A New Jersey coroner has ruled that the death of a 34 year old James Zadroga was directly related to his recovery work at Ground Zero.

The death of a 34-year-old police detective who developed respiratory disease after working at ground zero is ``directly related'' to Sept. 11, 2001, a New Jersey coroner said in the first known ruling positively linking a death to cleanup work at the World Trade Center site.

James Zadroga's family and union released his autopsy results Tuesday, saying they were proof of the first death of a city police officer related to recovery work after the terrorist attacks.

``It is felt with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the cause of death in this case was directly related to the 9/11 incident,'' wrote Gerard Breton, a pathologist at the Ocean County (N.J.) medical examiner's office in the Feb. 28 autopsy.

Zadroga died on Jan. 6 of respiratory failure and had inflammation in his lung tissue due to ``a history of exposure to toxic fumes and dust,'' Breton wrote.

The detective spent 470 hours after the attacks sifting through the twin towers' smoldering ruins, wearing a paper mask for protection. His breathing became labored within weeks, he developed a cough and he had to use an oxygen tank to breathe. He retired on disability in November 2004.

The Battle For Ground Zero, Part 117

Gretchen Dykstra, who's in charge of the WTC Memorial Foundation, is coming under fire because the foundation hasn't been able to raise the kinds of money needed to make the memorial come to fruition. Some of the problems stem from displeasure over the design, but there are also issues over whether the design will actually be built considering all the discord relating to construction of the Freedom Tower, the other office towers, and how space was allocated.

The Daily News reports that the iconic beams in the shape of a cross that were found at Ground Zero shortly after the collapse will be put into storage because of the construction ensuing at Ground Zero. I think that is a mistake, as the Port Authority could have relocated the cross to a space on the street level near where the PATH station is currently located, but it looks like this is a done deal.

Perhaps more importantly, the City has been working to develop a new radio system that would eliminate many of the problems facing emergency workers as they headed into the unknown on 9/11.

Although the new frequency, known as Channel 16, will be used during day-to-day operations, it could be most valuable when lives are at stake. The September 11 attacks made that clear, according to city documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

"That singular event further crystallized the extreme need for this build out," the city's request for proposals said. "The City cannot save lives and protect property if it cannot communicate to its Public Safety Agencies."

In 2004, the federal government allocated Channel 16 for municipal usage nationwide. The New York City plan will cost $75 million, according to the contract, which was registered by the city's Comptroller, William Thompson Jr.

The system will provide two citywide functions: It will serve as the new frequency for Fire Department dispatch and will be subdivided for various city agencies. In the event of a disaster, it will allow those agencies to better communicate.

Communications problems on 9/11 between firefighters and other emergency responders cost lives, both of the rescue personnel and those needing to be rescued. This new system will hopefully improve interagency communications in the event of major emergencies. It's still in the design phase, but when fully implemented, it will also allow coordination with Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties as well as at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. I would hope that this will also be expanded to Northern New Jersey communities, many of whom assisted in responding on 9/11.

Meanwhile, families relived the horrors of 9/11 as new audiotapes were released in the course of the Moussaoui case. I have more here.

UPDATE:
7WTC is getting its landscaping done, and a few hoodlums are helping out (in a bad way). Is Silverstein sandbagging the PA? Who knows, but New York Metro has a few tidbits. (via Curbed)

UPDATE:
More details on the memorial kerfuffle, and the proposed fee for entering the space.

UPDATE:
A New Jersey coroner has ruled that the death of a 34 year old James Zadroga was directly related to his recovery work at Ground Zero.

The death of a 34-year-old police detective who developed respiratory disease after working at ground zero is ``directly related'' to Sept. 11, 2001, a New Jersey coroner said in the first known ruling positively linking a death to cleanup work at the World Trade Center site.

James Zadroga's family and union released his autopsy results Tuesday, saying they were proof of the first death of a city police officer related to recovery work after the terrorist attacks.

``It is felt with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the cause of death in this case was directly related to the 9/11 incident,'' wrote Gerard Breton, a pathologist at the Ocean County (N.J.) medical examiner's office in the Feb. 28 autopsy.

Zadroga died on Jan. 6 of respiratory failure and had inflammation in his lung tissue due to ``a history of exposure to toxic fumes and dust,'' Breton wrote.

The detective spent 470 hours after the attacks sifting through the twin towers' smoldering ruins, wearing a paper mask for protection. His breathing became labored within weeks, he developed a cough and he had to use an oxygen tank to breathe. He retired on disability in November 2004.

Zadroga's case will assist other families in trying to receive compensation and additional medical screening and undermines the EPA claims, particularly by former EPA chief Christie Todd Whitman, that the air was within healthy limits.

Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, Pataki, LMDC, urban policy, Freedom Tower, IFC, International Freedom Center, spitzer, silverstein.