Clinton Blasts Bad Air
Hillary Clinton took time out of her hectic fundraising, [Sopranos-spoofing] schedule yesterday to lead a senate hearing investigating the federal response to post-9/11 air quality. The Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee hearing was intended to try to find out why an EPA report released days after the attack assured that [contaminated air](http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=70903) did not pose a risk to public health when an internal investigation later revealed that no scientific data had been collected to substantiate the claim. Oops.
Clinton said the EPA did not do enough to protect residents or rescue workers from contaminated air in Lower Manhattan: Nearly six years after 9/11 we still don't have the whole truth about the toxic cloud of poison that filled the air after the towers fell. We don't have an explanation for the misrepresentations that put countless people at risk of exposure to chemicals that we know are causing illness and death, she said.
James Connaughton, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, defended the federal governments [handling of the crisis]: "In all instances, federal agencies acted with the best available data at the time and updated their communications and actions as new information was obtained," he told the panel. Further investigations into the matter are scheduled for next week.
Photo courtesy of [marcn on Flickr]