NEW YORK, NY December 10, 2007 —Today, a federal appeals court will hear arguments on whether the federal government and former Environmental Protection Agency head Christine Todd Whitman can be sued for statements about conditions after 9/11. WNYC’s Fred Mogul has more.

A group of 8 lower Manhattan residents, office workers and students are suing Whitman and the EPA over what they allege was misleading encouragement to reoccupy the area in the weeks following 9/11. Government attorneys say Whitman cannot be held liable and filed a motion to dismiss.

A lower court judge rejected that argument last year. In saying the case should go forward, Judge Deborah Batts said Whitman’s actions had been “conscience-shocking." A different federal judge in a similar-but-unrelated lawsuit ruled otherwise and granted Whitman immunity. Those plaintiffs, mainly Ground Zero workers, are also in the process of appealing. For WNYC, I’m Fred Mogul.