Congressman Jerrold Nadler released the following statement today following the Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement that it has drafted a new testing and cleaning plan.

“This testing and cleanup plan is a breathtaking slap at the residents and workers of Lower Manhattan.  Once again, EPA is quite callously demonstrating that the health and safety of those affected by 9/11 are simply not a priority.

“EPA continues to ignore mounting evidence about dust contamination, the testimony of sick residents and workers who are still exposed to harmful substances, and the opinions of its very own panelists.

“This sham plan is terrible in many ways: it excludes workplaces; it does not address the problem of contaminated HVAC systems; it ignores buildings slated for demolition; it will not investigate whether areas have been re-contaminated; and it does not cover all the geographic areas known to have been showered with dust – and that’s just for starters.

“The EPA has, however, met several of its traditional internal goals: to obfuscate the facts, to deny the truth, and to produce a plan designed not to find any contamination.”