NYC should come clean about 9/11 toxicity
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Credit: Associated Press/Shawn Baldwin
When Mayor Zohran Mamdani released his budget last month, it appeared he might answer a quarter-century-old question.
It’s a Sept. 11 question mayors before him either ignored or refused to address, even as thousands of first responders and others who breathed in the lethal dust from the twisted steel and hazardous debris after the terrorist attacks have grown ill — and died.
What did New York City officials know about the toxicity of the air — and when did they know it?
Last month, Mamdani and the City Council allocated $34.2 million for a public portal to access digitalized documents regarding Sept. 11 health risks. Plus, they set aside $4 million for a city Department of Investigation inquiry and report.
“For too long, New Yorkers who have become sick have had to fight for information that should have been theirs from the very beginning,” Mamdani said. “We will provide the transparency that New Yorkers living with post-9/11 health concerns deserve.”
But will he?
There are worrisome indicators to the contrary. Hours after portal plans were released, New York City lawyers moved to dismiss a lawsuit by advocacy group 9/11 Health Watch, which sued after its Freedom of Information request was denied. The city’s attorneys said “no responsive records were located.”
How can Mamdani promise transparency when city lawyers are fighting it?
Some fear the city may spend millions of dollars digitalizing irrelevant paperwork. After first saying no records existed, city officials last year produced 68 boxes of information. Unfortunately, most of it, 9/11 Health Watch executive director Benjamin Chevat said, was “useless.” Those boxes, Chevat said, might as well be “doorstops.”
“If they’re going to copy and digitalize all 68 boxes, that’s an absolute waste of money,” Chevat said. “It gives the appearance of transparency without answering our questions.”
It’s also possible some key records weren’t properly preserved — or that after 25 years, city officials don’t know how to find them.
Importantly, there’s clear evidence city officials worried about the air quality very early on, even while publicly saying it was safe. In October 2001, a memo was sent to then-Deputy Mayor Robert Harding saying there could be 35,000 plaintiffs on Sept. 11-related issues, including “Health advisories [that] caused individuals either to return to the area too soon (causing toxic exposure or emotional harm) . . . ” and “Rescue workers were provided with faulty equipment or no equipment (i.e. respirators).”
That eye-opening memo, never released by the city, was discovered in an investigative journalist’s papers earlier this year. It suggested federal ways to limit the city’s liability, citing “toxic tort cases that might arise in the next few decades.”
That could explain why city officials, including Mamdani, are so hesitant to release any meaningful documentation. Are they worried that potentially incriminating findings could lead to new liability concerns and potential future lawsuits?
Whatever the reason, nearly 25 years later, city leaders, including Mamdani, are being just as cagey as those who came before. But we need answers — for suffering first responders, for the families left behind, and for those who weren’t even alive at the time.
“As we get further and further from this, it’s so much harder,” Chevat said.
Harder to explain, to teach, to remember. Harder to get young elected leaders and political bureaucrats to recognize what’s needed. And harder to pin down who knew what and when.
But we have to try.
Answering the question won’t cure those sickened by the poisoned air. It won’t bring back those who’ve died. It would, however, make sure history gets this right. It would force the city to reckon with its past and its leaders to take responsibility. And it would bring the truth to light, after decades of darkness.
Columnist Randi F. Marshall’s opinions are her own.
Randi Marshall is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
