I left NY almost 11 years ago, and this is the first shred of hope I have for divine restoration of New York state. New York needs a senator who will fight for her and Caroline Kennedy has the power and wisdom to do it.
I've been advocating for years the need to deal with World Trade Center Illness. Since I don't live in New York, Senator Clinton does not respond to me. I believe Kennedy will take on that issue and win the necessary funding and other support required to solve the problem, unlike the senator she is replacing who is so ineffective on the issue that the victims had to march on Washington last year for support.
When the EPA said the air and water were safe on 9/13/01, the current senators were silent. There were no demands to see the air quality reports from the sewers or the city's EPA numbers, which would have shown high toxic levels from the exploded WTC 1, 2 & 7; enough to have ordered an evacuation, not a lock down of the city. Instead of the senators speaking out immediately, the city was left to the mercy of the mayor's management. We are learning how that turned out as body parts are being found on the site as recently as last year.
According to Kennedy's cousin, Robert Kennedy Jr's Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report, THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER ATTACKS - A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT "At least 10,000 New Yorkers have suffered short-term health ailments from Trade Center generated air contaminants." Reports are that the fall out from those buildings was as toxic as drain cleaner. "World Trade Center Cough" and "World Trade Center Illness" are medical phrases.
The WTC buildings held, as reported by the NRDC, 1.2 million tons of building materials. This was mixed with thousands of gallons of jet fuel containing benzene and other toxic chemicals. Included in the buildings contents were 300-400 tons of asbestos, 424,000 tons of concrete, an estimated 50,000 personal computers with 4 pounds of lead per computer or 200,000 pounds of lead just from the pc's, glass, PCB's, mercury from the light bulbs and computers, 130,000 gallons of transformer oil, and Lord knows what else. NRDC calls the 9/11 disaster a "pollution event."
If Kennedy had been senator then, I assume the subject would have come up over the family holiday dinner.
When she becomes senator, the environment in New York will finally get real care. She has the connections to raise the funds needed to help people in the tri-state area deal with the economic and health issues this disease presents.
I've added to my prayer list that Gov. David Patterson do the right thing and give the people of the great state of New York a champion senator they deserve. With the upcoming World Trade Center Illness crisis (the dust was not limited to below 14th Street as reported) it is best to have a well connected, independent champion in the senate.
This change is gonna be great, Lord willing.
