AP: Govt Defends Remarks by Former EPA Chief

[Eugene]

Govt Defends Remarks by Former EPA Chief


Friday September 22, 2006 2:01 AM

By LARRY NEUMEISTER

Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - The former Environmental Protection Agency chief should not be
blamed for telling residents near the World Trade Center site that the area was
safe after the 2001 terrorist attacks, the government told an appeals court
Thursday.

Federal officials also argued that a lower court judge was wrong to force Christine
Todd Whitman to face a 2004 lawsuit by people in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn
who said they were exposed to hazardous dust and debris from the fallen twin towers.

"It is difficult to fathom a pull as strong as the need to calm public fears in the
wake of the worst terrorist attack in our nation's history," government lawyers
wrote in papers submitted to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

-snip-

"No decision of any court remotely suggests that a public statement, even a misleading
public statement, could violate the substantive due process rights of thousands of
individuals," the papers filed by Department of Justice lawyers in Washington said.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6097146,00.html

[Demeter]

1. They Should Slice that Baloney, Make It Easier To Swallow

The people are not served by the government lying to them, and this point has got to be made perfectly clear in government, business, science, all areas of life. It is the dominating crime of the century and the nation, and it's time to put an end to it.

[BootinUp]

2. I distinctly remember

political hacks changed key words in the original statement as written by the technical people.

[rodeodance]

3. political hacks in the WHITE HOUSE!! changed the words!

[rodeodance]

5. "at the urging of the Wh"

....The EPA's internal watchdog found the agency, at the urging of the White House, gave misleading assurances that the airborne dust posted no health risk.

A telephone message left with lawyers for the plaintiffs was not immediately returned Thursday.

[rodeodance]

4. but they admit they were calming fears in the 'wake' of a terrorist attach

``It is difficult to fathom a pull as strong as the need to calm public fears in the wake of the worst terrorist attack in our nation's history,'' government lawyers wrote in papers submitted to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

[mhatrw]

6. "Sure, our lies will cause thousands to die painful early deaths.

So what?"

[OKNancy]

7. kick for combine

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Feds defend Whitman in WTC suit

September 23, 2006

A Manhattan federal judge should not have allowed a lawsuit against former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christine Todd Whitman, stemming from statements she made about air quality at Ground Zero, to go forward, a U.S. government appeal argues.

In the brief filed Friday with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Justice Department lawyers defended Whitman's reassurances to the public in 2001 following the attack on the World Trade Center.

"It is difficult to fathom a pull as strong as the need to calm public fears in the wake of the worst terrorist attack in our nation's history," the brief states.

The class-action lawsuit, known as Benzman vs. Whitman, was filed in 2004. The plaintiffs allege that when the EPA said on Sept. 18, 2001, that the air in lower Manhattan was "safe" to breathe, the agency did not have data to support that claim.

They assert that Whitman's claim that there was a lack of widespread asbestos conflicted with the agency's test results.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nyepa234903427sep23,0,3495350.story?coll=ny-nynews-print


I don't think it was the need to calm public fears that motivated Whitman to lie to the public. Money and pleasing her corporate masters were a more likely motivator.

[razors edge]

9. You scratch my back.....

These judges have no investments whatsoever in wall street i'm sure.

[LiberalHeart]

10. But suppose that was the reason....

Does a desire to calm fears make it okay to lie?

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Now the rescuers and residents can live in fear

for the rest of their lives that they will die from cancer from breathing all that crap.