Last, but not least is the need to prepare to restore facilities and make them safe for re-occupancy.

That responsibility rests with federal, state, and local environmental agencies like the EPA, Pa DEP, and to a lesser extent local health departments with environmental components.

Much work remains in defining �what is clean, for biological contamination� and how to proceed with decontaminating large public facilities like stadiums, subways, airports and hospitals.

Pittsburgh�s technical expertise and large numbers of environmental consulting firms will play an important role in developing such protocols.