White House Lies

Damning report from the EPA - the White House rewrote it's press releases to reassure the public.

So what happened? Inspector General Tinsley, the EPA’s top watchdog, report charges, in the crucial days after 9/11, the White House changed EPA press releases to “add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones.”

Sept. 13: The EPA draft release — never released to the public — said: EPA “testing terrorized sites for environmental hazards.” The White House changed that to EPA “reassures public about environmental hazards.”

Sept. 16: The EPA draft said: “Recent samples of dust ... on Water Street show higher levels of asbestos.”

The White House version: “New samples confirm ... ambient air quality meets OSHA [government] standards” ... and “is not a cause for public concern.”

And the White House left out entirely the warning “that air samples raise concerns for cleanup workers and office workers near Water St.”