NYC unveils records suggesting officials knew air was unsafe after 9/11
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Workers at the 9/11 Memorial Museum during the evening cleaning of one of the 9/11 Memorial reflecting pools on Sept. 3 in New York City. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration released more than 170,000 pages of documents Tuesday that suggest city officials knew air conditions following the 9/11 attacks were unsafe, despite assurances otherwise.
The big picture: Twenty-five years later, New Yorkers are still seeking a full accounting of what city officials knew about the toxic air around Ground Zero and whether they were honest with the public about the risks.
- More New York City Fire Department members have died of 9/11-related illnesses than the 343 killed in the attacks.
- "It would be one thing if government had stood alongside survivors and provided them with everything they needed at every step of the way, and yet we know that could not be further from what actually happened," Mamdani said during Tuesday remarks.
- "People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air."
Driving the news: The release includes air quality reports, contamination records and internal correspondence that shed light on what city officials knew about the toxic air near Ground Zero.
- The public portal where the memos are stored was a more than $34 million commitment from City Hall, Mamdani said.
- The released followed a settlement struck between Mamdani's administration and advocacy group 9/11 Health Watch, which has waged a long fight for transparency.
9/11 Health Watch executive director Ben Chevat said Tuesday that "since 9/11, four different mayoral administrations worked to keep the answer from the public, even as city officials at the time continued to say that the air was quote 'safe and acceptable.'"
- The portal hosts what was found in 68 boxes of toxin-related documents uncovered by City Hall officials last year and archives from former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's office, like the so-called Harding Memo that predicted lawsuits related to toxic exposure, among other records.
- Mamdani said that the city would continue to update the portal and, as part of the settlement, would appoint designated personnel to coordinate document gathering to help individuals obtain victim health benefits.
- Since its 2011 reopening, the federally funded 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund has awarded more than $16.8 billion to over 71,000 claimants, per its most recent annual report.
Flashback: Christine Todd Whitman, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency under the Bush administration, told The Guardian 10 years ago that she was wrong to assure New Yorkers that the air was safe.
What they're saying: Comedian Jon Stewart, who in the years following the attack became a vocal advocate for first responders' health, said at Tuesday's announcement that the city "buried" evidence for 25 years, starting soon after the attacks.
- He put it bluntly: "The city began covering their ass three weeks in."
Go deeper: Accused 9/11 plotters to stand trial in 2028
