Former EPA Chief to Testify on 9/11 Response
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Saturday, May 19, 2007; Page A09
NEW YORK -- Christine Todd Whitman, the former chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, has agreed to testify before Congress about the government's handling of air quality and health issues following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Whitman's attorney told Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday that a pending federal lawsuit against the EPA prevented her testimony at a subcommittee hearing.
But "if you insist that I appear before the subcommittee while that litigation is still pending, I am prepared to honor your request," Whitman told Nadler in a letter dated Thursday.
Nadler said he would accommodate Whitman by rescheduling a hearing that had been set for Tuesday.
The last time Whitman testified before Congress about the EPA's response to the attacks was in 2003.
A federal lawsuit by Lower Manhattan residents accuses Whitman of jeopardizing their health by declaring that "the air is safe to breathe" when, according to the EPA inspector general, a quarter of dust samples were recording unhealthy asbestos levels. A federal judge has refused to dismiss the lawsuit. That decision is being appealed.
