[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 22395]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 COMMENDING THE WORK OF THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS

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                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 13, 2001

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I want to note the vital contribution the 
International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) has made to the 
daunting clean up task at the World Trade Center's ``Red Zone,'' better 
known as ''Ground Zero.'' The IUOE's National Hazardous Materials 
(Hazmat) Program is based in Beaver, West Virginia. I am proud to 
represent them in Congress as part of the Third Congressional District 
of West Virginia.
  Don Carson, the Director of IUOE's Hazmat program, and a team of 
workers from the Beaver facility were among the first out-of-state 
workers to be sent to work at Ground Zero immediately after the 
September 11th terrorist attacks. Mr. Carson has sent me heart-
wrenching pictures of the twisted metal that show the depth of the 
tragedy and the danger of the rescue work. But that danger has not 
deterred any of the workers who have been involved in the rescue, and 
now recovery, effort.
  Ever since the tragedy occurred, IUOE, and the Hazmat Center, have 
played a major role in the rescue and recovery effort. In fact, Mr. 
Carson has been coordinating the Hazmat workers' activities based out 
of a command post trailer parked on the right field warning track of a 
baseball field near Stuyvesant High School.
  Today, Mr. Carson sent me an article from the New York Daily News. 
The article describes how Mr. Carson ``has been handing out 
respirators, hardhats and protective vests since the attacks.''
  The workers' health has come into question as the long weeks pass 
since the attacks. They have developed a cough that doctors refer to as 
the ``World Trade Center cough.'' Don Carson and IUOE's Hazmat Center 
are trying to tackle this. They are working with the Occupational 
Safety and Health Administration and the New York City Department of 
Health (DOH) to conduct a respirator fit test and orientation for all 
workers assigned to Ground Zero. The workers must have a DOH sticker 
affixed to the credentials in order to work in the Red Zone.
  After the workers take their respirator fit test, they will be given 
an American flag hard hat.
  The News article notes that these workers ``battle constant danger, 
fumes and fatigue, as well as their own emotions. ``Our guys have seen 
things that God never intended,'' said Bobby Gray, 46, the union's 
master mechanic. ``But they soldier through.''
  The IUOE workers have ``pulled bodies from the rubble, cleared hills 
of.jagged steel and recovered million of dollars in gold bullion 
trapped under the fallen towers.''
  The farther down the workers go below ground level, the more 
dangerous it gets. They must drill 8-inch cables into the concrete 
retaining wall--the ``bathtub wall''--that circles the World Trade 
Center site to make sure it is anchored to the bedrock.
  If the ``bathtub wall'' would burst, the Hudson River would rush in 
and flood the site. But the IUOE workers press on, risking this 
incredible danger as they drill the holes.
  The News article follows the IUOE workers' tasks as they operate 
``twenty five cranes, 75 excavators and countless front-loaders, pay-
loaders and machine drills.'' For example, crane operator Steve Nolan 
operates a 438-foot crane, navigating a one-and-one-half ton man-basket 
from inside the rig's cab.
  ``A crane like this is not to be run by the seat of your pants,'' 
Nolan said. ``If you have an oops'' on a job like this people are 
dead.''
  ``Even when I'm wrecking a building, it's usually a happy job because 
we are replacing it with something new,'' said Steve Nolan. ``When I 
sit in the crane, I ask myself. `What kind of sick hatred could do 
this?'' '

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