Downtown Georgetown
9/11 The Steel Was Fine; The Design Was Not
RECEIVED Wed., Sept. 28, 2011
Michael Ventura did his usual fine job blasting away at the pinata-load of oddball 9/11 conspiracies ("Zelda's Law and 9/11") ["Letters at 3am," Sept. 23], but he is factually incorrect on two points.
New York in the 1970s may have had the most corrupt construction inspection system in the nation, but no New York City inspector ever inspected the World Trade Center site. The World Trade Center was constructed by the Port Authority of New York, a 1920s, two-state entity set up under federal law which reports to neither state. The city had no legal right to determine how the Port Authority constructed any facility. New York City building authorities didn’t OK the plans or inspect the construction site. If the plans had been submitted, they would have been immediately rejected because the unique and highly unusual design met neither NYC nor state building codes.
This design problem seems to have been well understood in the aftermath of the attack. The federal agencies responsible for investigating airplane crashes and building failures were kept away from the scene. Almost all of the bent and broken, individually numbered structural steel pieces that would have made an investigation possible were sent to Staten Island and melted down. Nobody wanted the issue raised. The first act of Congress after 9/11 was to pass a law making all 9/11 costs the responsibility of the federal government, lifting the potential burden of the flawed design from the Port Authority.
Second, almost all U.S. construction steel contains 90% recycled material. Any impurities in the old car fenders, structural steel, and tin cans being recycled are burned off when the old steel is melted down. To my knowledge there has never been any suggestion that defective steel caused the collapse of the World Trade Center. The steel was fine; the design was not.
New York in the 1970s may have had the most corrupt construction inspection system in the nation, but no New York City inspector ever inspected the World Trade Center site. The World Trade Center was constructed by the Port Authority of New York, a 1920s, two-state entity set up under federal law which reports to neither state. The city had no legal right to determine how the Port Authority constructed any facility. New York City building authorities didn’t OK the plans or inspect the construction site. If the plans had been submitted, they would have been immediately rejected because the unique and highly unusual design met neither NYC nor state building codes.
This design problem seems to have been well understood in the aftermath of the attack. The federal agencies responsible for investigating airplane crashes and building failures were kept away from the scene. Almost all of the bent and broken, individually numbered structural steel pieces that would have made an investigation possible were sent to Staten Island and melted down. Nobody wanted the issue raised. The first act of Congress after 9/11 was to pass a law making all 9/11 costs the responsibility of the federal government, lifting the potential burden of the flawed design from the Port Authority.
Second, almost all U.S. construction steel contains 90% recycled material. Any impurities in the old car fenders, structural steel, and tin cans being recycled are burned off when the old steel is melted down. To my knowledge there has never been any suggestion that defective steel caused the collapse of the World Trade Center. The steel was fine; the design was not.
Dave Miller
