NEW YORK, NY June 25, 2007 —Christine Todd Whitman is set to testify today before a House sub-committee investigating post-9/11 events. There have been about a half-dozen hearings about the impact of the attacks on public health and the environment. But this is the first one to feature the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency. WNYC’s Fred Mogul has more.

REPORTER: Dust, debris and acrid odors were still in the air when Whitman arrived in New York on September 13th to add her voice to a chorus of reassurance.

WHITMAN: You know asbestos was there, was in those buildings, lead was in those buildings, there are the BOCs, however, the concentrations are such, they don’t pose a health hazard. We’re going to make sure everyone’s safe.

REPORTER: Ever since, Whitman has stood by those and other of her early crisis-related comments. But as health problems have emerged that many people trace to exposure to World Trade Center dust, she has been the target of criticism – and litigation. One federal lawsuit was dismissed last year, but another one now being appealed was allowed to proceed. Joel Kupferman of the New York Environmental Law and Justice Project is a co-counsel for group of residents, students and workers suing Whitman over her actions.

KUPFERMAN: It gave people a false assurance that it was safe… People could have taken their own protection. With those statements they took off their masks, they came back, and they dropped their guard.

REPORTER: An EPA inspector general later criticized the flow of information to the public but said Whitman and other officials did not issue intentionally misleading statements. That, however, is exactly what Congressman Jerrold Nadler HAS accused Whitman and the EPA of doing. He is the one chairing today’s sub-committee hearings. For WNYC, I’m Fred Mogul.