"Yesterday, the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) presented the nation with a crucial document. By providing a preliminary report of how the World Trade Center (WTC) towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, NIST took a significant step towards ensuring that we prevent future disasters and protect more lives if a disaster does occur.

As the chief Senate sponsor of the legislation that established NIST as the lead agency to properly investigate the collapse of the WTC, I care deeply about the progress that is being made in this investigation.

I applaud NIST for their ongoing efforts and look forward to their final report. I urge them to seriously consider the expert comments to the draft report and to include strong recommendations that will provide us with a blue print for how we prevent such catastrophic loss of life in the future.

I also commend the Skyscraper Safety Campaign for their tremendous leadership and the inspiration that they continue to give us to work to protect others from future harm. This preliminary report would not exist had it not been for their dedication and perseverance."

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