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[Note: It was none other than "America's Phoniest Hero" Rudy Giuliani who
ordered all the steel recycled before it could be examined. Can you spell
coverup? See http://baltech.org/lederman/ for the details. ]
Daily News 3/7/2002
WTC Probe Ills Bared
By PAUL H.B. SHIN
Daily News Staff Writer
WASHINGTON
An inquiry into exactly what caused the twin towers to collapse after they
were hit by hijacked jetliners may have been undermined by the hasty
recycling of steel wreckage that could hold vital clues, experts told
Congress yesterday.
About 80% of the structural steel from the World Trade Center was scrapped
without being examined by even one fire expert, mostly because investigators
did not have the authority to preserve the wreckage as evidence, the experts
said.
WTC widows Elizabeth Jordan and Sally Regenhard appear at the hearings.
"The lack of significant amounts of steel for examination will make it
difficult, if not impossible, to make a definitive statement as to the
specific cause and chronology of the collapse," said Glenn Corbett, a fire
science expert from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan who
testified before a House Science Committee inquiry into the collapse and the
ensuing investigation.
"The current World Trade Center disaster inquiry has exposed a gaping hole
in the way that we investigate disasters," he said.
PA Wanted a Waiver
The lead investigator in the case, Gene Corley of the American Society of
Civil Engineers, said the Port Authority refused to hand over blueprints for
the twin towers - crucial for evaluating the wreckage - until he signed a
waiver saying his team would not use the plans in a lawsuit against the
agency.
"This is the first time I have signed something like that," Corley said,
setting off a wave of angry comments from members of Congress and outcries
from an audience made up mostly of relatives of victims of the Sept. 11
terror attacks.
Corley leads a team of engineering experts empaneled by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, but his team lacks the power to subpoena
witnesses or order the preservation of evidence.
"Where does the buck stop on this investigation?" asked Rep. Anthony Weiner
(D-Brooklyn).
Weiner's query was followed by a round of conflicting testimony by officials
from FEMA and other federal agencies about exactly who is in charge of the
inquiry.
Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-Utica), chairman of the committee, said the
confusion points to a need to define which agency will take the lead in
investigating future collapses.
"No one is sure what powers the federal government can exercise. No one is
sure of the scope of the investigation," he said. "That has to be fixed
right away."
Boehlert's committee is expected to recommend the creation of a group like
the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates plane and
railroad crashes.
The group, tentatively dubbed the National Construction Safety Board, would
likely be a branch of the National Institute of Standards and Technology,
which is one of the groups probing the Trade Center collapse.
Victims' relatives said those measures would be a step in the right
direction.
"We want at least the same level of investigation as a plane crash," said
Sally Regenhard, whose son, Christian, 28, a probationary firefighter, died
in the collapse.
---------------------------------
NY Times 3/7/2002
BUILDING STANDARDS
Mismanagement Muddled Collapse Inquiry, House Panel Says
By ERIC LIPTON
ASHINGTON, March 6 - Members of Congress today criticized the investigation
into the collapse of the World Trade Center, saying it had been mismanaged,
far too slow to start and hampered by a lack of cooperation by New York City
and other government agencies controlling the disaster site.
"No one is in charge, no one is sure what powers the federal government can
exercise, no one is sure of the scope of an investigation," said
Representative Sherwood L. Boehlert, a Republican from New York and the
House Science Committee's chairman. "And that has to be fixed right away."
Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other
federal officials, who faced the criticism during testimony before the
committee today, conceded that the investigation had been plagued by
financing problems and confusion over authority almost from the start.
The hearing, the first to be held by Congress on the trade center collapse,
concluded with an agreement by Bush administration officials and the
committee members that a new entity like the National Transportation Safety
Board, which investigates transportation accidents and crashes, is needed to
avoid such problems in inquiries into building collapses.
At least $40 million in additional federal aid is also needed to expand the
World Trade Center inquiry, the House members said. To date, approximately
$600,000 has been invested by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Expanding the inquiry, House members and the leaders of the inquiry said,
could help investigators determine whether there were weaknesses in the
trade center towers that exist in other skyscrapers.
There is also an urgent need, the investigators and House members agreed, to
evaluate the fire-prevention systems in the building as well as the Fire
Department's response.
"As engineers, as architects, as builders, as firefighters, as citizens who
occupy high-rises, and as those who are in the position to help those
citizens, there are critical questions regarding this collapse and they need
answering," Glenn P. Corbett, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal
Justice and an expert on firefighting, testified today. "There are many
high-rise structures in the United States and more on the way that demand
that we learn from the disaster of 9/11 and apply the lessons learned."
The most intense criticism from both Republican and Democratic House members
centered on the confusion over just who is overseeing the investigation -
the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Institute of Standards
and Technology or the American Society of Civil Engineers.
At one point, Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a Democrat from New York
City, asked for the official in charge to raise his hand, and two men, and
then three appeared to do so. "We have very serious problems here," added
Representative John B. Larson, a Connecticut Democrat.
The lack of clear authority has had unfortunate consequences, the House
members said. The Giuliani administration started to send World Trade Center
steel off to recycling yards before investigators could examine it to
determine whether it might hold crucial clues as to why the buildings fell.
The full investigative team set up by FEMA was not allowed to enter ground
zero to collect other potentially critical evidence in the weeks after the
attack, and it did not get a copy of the World Trade Center blueprints until
early January, a delay House members found infuriating.
"The delay in the receipt of the plans did somewhat hinder the team's
ability to confirm their understanding of the buildings," said Dr. W. Gene
Corley, a structural engineer leading the investigative committee organized
by FEMA.
A Port Authority spokesman defended the agency, saying that building plans
had been given to federal officials within a week of the attack and that the
agency was cooperating fully with the inquiry.
The federal officials who testified yesterday - Dr. Arden L. Bement Jr., the
director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Robert
F. Shea, the acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency's Insurance and Mitigation Administration - repeatedly nodded their
agreement.
In response to criticism from one committee member, Mr. Shea said, "Frankly,
I agree with you. There are many things in hindsight we would have done
differently."
The problem, they said, was the lack of clear authority in federal law and
financing. None of the investigators, for example, had subpoena power,
meaning that they could not order the city to stop sending the steel off for
recycling or demand a copy of the building blueprints.
The criticism and the admissions by the federal officials brought little
relief to the more than two dozen parents, spouses and other relatives of
those victims in the Sept. 11 attacks, who filled many of the hearing room
seats, some holding photographs of lost loved ones.
"It has been six months, and nobody knows who is responsible for what. It is
a disgrace," said Russell Mercer of Queens, whose son-in-law, Scott Kopytko,
32, was a victim.
But the federal officials and leaders from the American Society of Civil
Engineers, which is coordinating the initial investigation, all said a great
deal remained to be done.
Original Publication Date: 3/7/02
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