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residents, and workers at and near the former location of 
the World Trade Center in New York City. 
The Inspector General of the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency (EPA) August 21, 2003, report numbered 
2003–P–00012 and entitled ‘‘EPA’s Response to the 
World Trade Center Collapse: Challenges, Successes, and 
Areas for Improvement’’, includes the following findings: 
‘‘[W]hen EPA made a September 18 announce-
ment that the air was ‘safe’ to breathe, it did not 
have sufficient data and analyses to make such a 
blanket statement. At that time, air monitoring data 
was lacking for several pollutants of concern, includ-
ing particulate matter and polychlorinated biphenyls 
(PCBs). Furthermore, The White House Council on 
Environmental Quality (CEQ) influenced, through 
the collaboration process, the information that EPA 
communicated to the public through its early press 
releases when it convinced EPA to add reassuring 
statements and delete cautionary ones.’’. . . 
‘‘As a result of the White House CEQ’s influ-
ence, guidance for cleaning indoor spaces and infor-
mation about the potential health effects from WTC 
debris were not included in EPA-issued press re-
leases. In addition, based on CEQ’s influence, reas-
suring information was added to at least one press 
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release and cautionary information was deleted from 
EPA’s draft version of that press release. . . . 
[T]he White House’s role in EPA’s public commu-
nications about WTC environmental conditions was 
described in a September 12, 2001, e-mail from the 
EPA Deputy Administrator’s Chief of Staff to sen-
ior EPA officials: 
‘‘ ‘All statements to the media should be 
cleared through the NSC [National Security 
Council] before they are released.’ 
‘‘According to the EPA Chief of Staff, one par-
ticular CEQ official was designated to work with 
EPA to ensure that clearance was obtained through 
NSC. The Associate Administrator for the EPA Of-
fice of Communications, Education, and Media Rela-
tions (OCEMR)3 said that no press release could be 
issued for a 3- to 4-week period after September 11 
without approval from the CEQ contact.’’. 
Acting EPA Administrator Marianne Horinko, who 
sat in on EPA meetings with the White House, has said 
in an interview that the White House played a coordi-
nating role. The National Security Council played the key 
role, filtering incoming data on ground zero air and water, 
Horinko said: ‘‘I think that the thinking was, these are 
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experts in WMD (weapons of mass destruction), so they 
should have the coordinating role.’’. 
In the cleanup of the Pentagon following September 
11, 2001, Occupational Safety and Health Administration 
laws were enforced, and no workers became ill. At the 
World Trade Center site, the same laws were not enforced. 
In the years since the release of the EPA Inspector 
General’s above-cited report, the Bush Administration has 
still not effected a clean-up of the indoor air in apartments 
and workspaces near the site. 
Screenings conducted at the Mount Sinai Medical 
Center and released in the September 10, 2004, Morbidity 
and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) of the Federal 
Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pro-
duced the following results: 
‘‘Both upper and lower respiratory problems 
and mental health difficulties are widespread among 
rescue and recovery workers who dug through the 
ruins of the World Trade Center in the days fol-
lowing its destruction in the attack of September 11, 
2001. 
‘‘An analysis of the screenings of 1,138 workers 
and volunteers who responded to the World Trade 
Center disaster found that nearly three-quarters of 
them experienced new or worsened upper respiratory 
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problems at some point while working at Ground 
Zero. And half of those examined had upper and/or 
lower respiratory symptoms that persisted up to the 
time of their examinations, an average of eight 
months after their WTC efforts ended.’’. 
A larger study released in 2006 found that roughly 
70 percent of nearly 10,000 workers tested at Mount Sinai 
from 2002 to 2004 reported that they had new or substan-
tially worsened respiratory problems while or after work-
ing at ground zero. This study showed that many of the 
respiratory ailments, including sinusitis and asthma, and 
gastrointestinal problems related to them, initially re-
ported by ground zero workers persisted or grew worse 
over time. Most of the ground zero workers in the study 
who reported trouble breathing while working there were 
still having those problems two and a half years later, an 
indication of chronic illness unlikely to improve over time. 
In all of these actions and decisions, President 
George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his 
trust as President, and subversive of constitutional gov-
ernment, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice 
and to the manifest injury of the people of the United 
States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such 
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conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting 
removal from office. 
Æ 
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