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Subscribe to RSSNEW YORK — A special fund set up by Congress to compensate people who got sick after being exposed to toxic World Trade Center dust following Sept. 11 is making its first round of payments, with the initial payouts going to a group of 15 first responders with respiratory problems.
The administrator who oversees the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, Sheila Birnbaum, announced Tuesday that the fund was finally poised to process payouts, after a deliberate start in which officials figured out how the program would work and lawyers pieced together documentation for at least 16,000 applications.
The first round of payments, most of which have been offered to firefighters, range from $10,000 to a high of $1.5 million.
Birnbaum declined to identify the recipients by name or say much about their illnesses, citing privacy concerns. She said their health problems range from "serious" to "not so serious," and that the people getting the larger awards tended to be younger and to have suffered more severe economic losses.
The people offered lower amounts include some who have already received other compensation for their illnesses, including shares of a civil settlement for thousands of firefighters, police officers and construction workers who had sued over the lack of protective equipment at ground zero.
None of the people in the initial group had cancer and all are still living, Birnbaum said.
"We think we are off to a good start, and with the help of the lawyers and the claimants, we will be able to come up with a lot more awards in the coming months," she said.
It will be years, though, before any applicants see the bulk of their money, or even know for certain how much they will get.
Officials don't yet know how many people will apply for aid from the $2.78 billion fund, or how ill they will be. That means they can't yet calculate each person's share. So for now, applicants are getting only 10 percent of their award. The remainder won't be paid until after the fund closes to new applicants in 2016.
Some advocates for the sick have worried that the $2.78 billion appropriated by Congress will be far less than the actual losses suffered by the sick — a possibility that Birnbaum acknowledged in drafting the formula she is using to decide how much money claimants will get in the first round.
Planning for a worst-case scenario, fund officials estimated that as many as 26,475 people would be eligible for more than $8.5 billion in compensation.
If that happens, the firefighter awarded $1.5 million this week would, in the end, actually get a prorated share of only around $488,000.
"I think without question, there is not going to be enough," said Noah Kushlefsky, a lawyer who, along with partners, is representing about 4,700 claimants. He said that he believed Congress would ultimately be asked to put more money into the fund. "There is no doubt, based on the severity of some of the injuries."
As for the slow pace of awards so far, Kushlefsky said Birnbaum and her staff are not to blame.
He said the process of assembling the evidence showing that his clients were actually at ground zero, or were exposed to toxins, has been challenging and time-consuming. But he said the process is hitting a stage when applications should be moving much more quickly.
"I think that things are going to start taking off in the very near future," he said, noting that some of his clients have grumbled about the slowness of the process. "All these guys have waited 11 years now, and none of them are warm and fuzzy about it."
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Only 12 years after the attack, way to make sure a lot of them died from sickness so the payments will be smaller.
I remember the late-September, 2001 evening, as I sat in my den watching the evening news as Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman assured the media and those recovery persons working "the pile" (the collapsed WTC Towers rubble) that there was no health hazard present. I
thought at the time, as I listened to her words "Well that makes no sense, OF COURSE there is a health hazard. A BIG health hazard."
I have thought of that news clip many times over the intervening years, and remember how similar those words were to the assurances our veterans of Vietnam were given in the 1970's that "Agent Orange" was "not hazardous to their health; only harmful to vegetation."
These men and women deserve every assistance our government can muster to help with their health issues related to their work at ground zero. But more than that, they deserve an apology and compensation for being lied to, when it would have been so comparatively easy and cost effective to just provide them respirators and protective clothing.
From Wikipedia: (Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd) Whitman appeared twice in New York City after the September 11 attacks to inform New Yorkers that the toxins released by the attacks posed no threat to their health.[28] On September 18, the EPA released a report in which Whitman said, "Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, D.C. that their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink." She also said, "The concentrations are such that they don't pose a health hazard...We're going to make sure everybody is safe."[29] Later, a 2003 report by the EPA's inspector general determined that such assurances were misleading, because the EPA "did not have sufficient data and analyses" to justify the assertions when they were made.[30]
A report in July 2003 from the EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response gave extensive documentation supporting many of the inspector general's conclusions, and carried some of them still further.[31] Further, the report found that the White House had "convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones" by having the National Security Council control EPA communications after the September 11 attacks.[32] In December 2007, legal proceedings began in a case on the question of responsibility of government officials in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Whitman was among the defendants in the suit; plaintiffs in the suit allege that Whitman is at fault for saying that the downtown New York air was safe in the aftermath of the attacks.[33]
In April 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overruled the district court, holding that as EPA head Whitman could not be held liable for saying to World Trade Center area residents that the air was safe for breathing after the buildings collapse. The court said that Whitman had based her information on contradictory information and statements from President Bush. The U.S. Department of Justice had argued that holding the agency liable would establish a risky legal precedent because future public officials would be afraid to make public statements.
The WTC used about 400 tons of asbestos during it's construction. Much of that became airborne when the towers fell, and the rest was cleaned up at ground zero. Mesothelioma caused by asbestos fibers can take decades to show itself. It only takes a miniscule amount, inhaled into the lungs, to start the process.
Everyone who was in lower Manhattan and the parts of Brooklyn where the debris cloud passed over, is a potential victim of the collapse. The incredible irresponsibility of the Bush administration for saying it was safe, will lead to thousands of peoples lives being cut short.
I knew right away there was a hazard. I saw a documentary about the construction of the towers that talked about the asbestos fire-proofing of ther steel. The asbestos was used on only 2/3 of the buildings as the dangers were just becoming known then.
This payment is of course on top of their early retirement with full pay, Social Security disability, collecting Social Security early plus MediCare entitlement - all for the rest of their lives- because of the same illness.
Who said the problem with spending other people's money is that sometime they will run out?
Dick-2100935, Are you saying our First Responders do not deserve this settlement or it is too large because they will have other income such as social security etc? They will not get full pay with early retirement, I have a friend that works with the fire department and he says that is not so. And if you start receiving your social security benefits before you retire, you will get a smaller amount than you would if you retired. PLUS, everyone must keep in mind that the big Legal firms representing our First Responders will get OVER half of the compensation going to the victims. I know someone that was suppose to get $10,000 from a class action suit and ended up with a little over $3,000......her attorneys got the rest. She needed that money more than her attorneys for medical treatment she would need for the rest of her life. $3,000 sure won't go very far. I feel some sort of regulation needs to be in place to keep Law firms from getting over half of compensation that should be going to their clients if it is for medical treatment.
I'm not opinionating but posting information.
I'm not from NY but heard many stories how fire and police get full pay on pensions if injured on the job, also if you are disabled you can collect Social Security at any age and get your full SS pension, based on year to date SS payments, plus disability pension and if you qualify for that you qualify for Medicare 1 year later automatically.
Don't forget, the
leecheslawyers get their share too. Can't leave those out. But you are correct.Given enough time, no doubt there will be many who are dead long before they ever receive a penny of the promised funds from our wonderful long suffering government. There will probably be just enough left to pay for coffins,grave sites and tombstones.$2.78 billion is just about right for Obuba's 3 term election expenses.
Why the heck are we paying them settlements? They were doing the jobs they were hired for, nothing more.
You are the worst kind of person on earth, period.
Maybe we are paying them because government officials lied about air quality? Both those towers were loaded with Asbestos, not to mention that some concrete companies now use asbestos in the concrete mix for "Added" strength in curing process. And then we expected our firefighters, cops, ambulance drivers... all to be there and ready to receive patients.
I have a civic duty to pay them for their suffering for doing their jobs. I've yet to read a job requirement that states I must inhale X amount of asbestos. You are a troll and a douche bag, for even making such a stupid statement. I hope for the future sake of my country, You do not reproduce your stupidity upon future generations.
I would say it is about time! It took them years to do this?
It's sad to see so many responders were hurt, however - I don't see why the government is liable for this bill when it was a for profit building that was destroyed - if that building contained toxins, then the OWNER should be on the hook.
Of course, some folks in the government know what the responders were exposed to - yep, I'm one of those conspiracy nuts. Steel frame buildings collapse from fire....hijacked planes not intercepted.....evidence of thermate....buildings collapse free fall and essentially STRAIGHT DOWN....molten steel hotter than the flames could have ever been....the "ball" (find the video)....the Pentagon with no damage where a plane would have HAD to have damaged it....folks - that is JUST the start of the list. Watch the videos - realize some are nuts - but some.......just open your mind. I was in Korea when this all happened - and they said that building 7 was pulled - really bothers me that I can't find that video anymore....
Eventually....maybe....we will have the truth - we sure don't have it now.
Thank you to the responders for doing what you could in an impossible task.
Draconian, you are not a nut. The entire video is available on iTunes, Hulu, Netflix, and Flixster. Just posted yesterday. "Architects & Engineers: Explosive Evidence". I would also suggest people check out Dr. Judy Wood's web site.
Sorry, wrong title. It will be listed as "9/11: Explosive Evidence"