Breathless Audacity

One of the individuals responsible for this betrayal was James L. Connaughton, who had been appointed earlier that year by President Bush to head the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). Prior to assuming this post, Connaughton defended corporate clients including leading defendants in cases involving asbestos, a major liability concern for corporations because of its proven link to a number of life-threatening respiratory diseases including lung cancer. It is not terribly surprising, therefore, that CEQ played an important role in covering up information about asbestos and other toxins in the air in New York City following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Asbestos was used as an insulating material during construction of the first 40 stories of the first World Trade tower, and it joined the concrete, glass and other materials that were pulverized into a huge cloud of dust when the towers collapsed. Literally before the dust had cleared, however, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani joined the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency in assuring people that the city's air was safe. The day after the attacks, the chief of staff for EPA Deputy Administrator Linda Fisher sent an e-mail to senior agency officials, saying that "all statements to the media should be cleared" first by the National Security Council, Bush's main forum for discussing national-security matters. Fisher, a Bush appointee, had worked previously as a chief lobbyist and political fundraising coordinator for the Monsanto Company, a defendant in asbestos liability cases involving millions of dollars. http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/09/06/breathless-audacity-how-the-white-house-betrayed-the-real-heroes-of-911/#more-4362

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