WTC steel becomes material for memorial

As the anniversary of the attacks of September 11,2001,approaches on Friday,pieces of the World Trade Center rubble from...

As the anniversary of the attacks of September 11,2001,approaches on Friday,pieces of the World Trade Center rubble from that day have never been more accessible. A new campaign is under way to speed up the process and increase the volume of giving away pieces of steel big and small from the debris.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,which owns the steel,will invite police and fire departments and mayors and other leaders of cities and towns throughout the country to ask for pieces for memorials. The Port Authority has filled about 25 requests in the last year,and has about a dozen more pending. In recent weeks,trucks have hauled twisted steel columns that weigh hundreds of pounds to York,Pennsylvania,and Westerville,Ohio.

The best way we can honor the memory of those we lost on 9/11 is to find homes in the WTC Memorial and in cities and towns around the nation for the hundreds of artifacts weve carefully preserved over the years, said the Port Authoritys executive director,Christopher O Ward.

The Port Authority hopes to generate more interest in the steel with new advertisements in police,fire and municipal trade magazines. There are 1,800 to 2,000 pieces,half of them very large,which are available for carting away,at the recipient8217;s expense. This does not include some 200 pieces,among them the most familiar and iconic,that have been claimed by the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.

Among the pending requests are one from Las Vegas,where the Atomic Testing Museum wants a 79-inch piece to fit in its custom-made case,and one from Eastern Kentucky University,which requested a piece one and a half feet long. There is also a request from a group of fire departments in France.

Requests for the steel must be approved by Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of US District Court,who is overseeing the wrongful death lawsuits stemming from the attacks. While the steel is considered potential evidence in those cases,tests on the steel were completed in 2005. The judge has since granted all requests and has given no indication he will do otherwise for the pending ones.