NEW documents are suggesting New York City leaders lied about the toxic air residents were breathing in around the World Trade Center after the attacks on 9/11.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released the documents on Tuesday morning, just days before the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people.
The over 170,000 documents were kept from the public view for over two decades, and city officials say they were only recently discovered.
“These are documents that show what the city knew about the toxic air around Ground Zero, when they knew it, and how they acted to limit liability,” Mamdani said at a press conference on Tuesday morning.
“I think that there is going to be a lot to learn from these documents.”
The release of documents comes soon after The World Trade Center Health Program revealed rare cancer cases have been on the rise in 9/11 survivors.
The report found 2026 was the first year where the number of cancer cases among survivors who attended school, worked or lived near Ground Zero surpassed the number of first responders who had prolonged exposure to the debris and dust.
Nearly 6,000 people who worked and live nearby and first responders have died from cancer caused by the toxic air in the last 25 years, more than double the amount of people who died on the fateful day.
Soon after the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001, volunteers and first responders became concerned about breathing in asbestos and fiberglass, in addition to human tissue and pulverized bone as they searched for bodies.
The burning smell continued for months afterwards, according to survivors.
“It smelled like burning plastic the whole time,” Lori Ellis, a senior manager for Century 21 in lower Manhattan, told the New York Daily News five months after the attack.
Over 1.8million tons of burning wreckage took over the area, and underground fires burned for almost 100 days after the attack.
The new documents indicate officials were concerned about potential lawsuits tied to chemical exposure even as leaders reassured the public that the air was safe.
Mamdani has now directed his administration to release the records to the public via an online portal after years of outrage, demanding answers from city leaders about what they knew regarding the chemical toxins.
Records appear to strengthen the notion that New Yorkers were allowed to return to Ground Zero before it was safe to do so, potentially exposing residents and workers to dangerous toxins in the air.
Attorney Andrew Carboy, who has been fighting to get the documents released, told the New York Daily News the case “shows the worst of government bureaucracy.”
“To keep this information suppressed and then deny it exists is the laziest, most disingenuous form of obstruction that I can think of.”
Health officials have continued to find evidence of asbestos as far as half a mile away from the scene of the fallen towers, according to an air quality records viewed by the New York Times.
“The devastating truth is that the suffering did not end once the smoke cleared and the dust settled,” Mamdani said.
“Now, close to 25 years later, more people have died of 9/11-related illness than were killed on the day itself.”
“People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” he continued.
“And then when they began to contend with the symptoms of the illnesses that followed, the government that had not hesitated to send them into harm’s way were nowhere to be found.”
President Donald Trump honored victims and survivors of 9/11 on Friday morning in Washington DC and talked about how the world was “changed forever” after the attacks.
He did not talk about the newly released documents, but did award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the family of Welles Crowther, who is known as the man in the red bandana.
Crowther tied a red bandana around his face on September 11, 2001, and led many people to safety before he was killed.
Mamdani has also instructed his administration to review, redact and publicize several more documents found in insurance and municipal offices that relate to environmental toxins brought about by September 11.
Mamdani also noted the release of documents might help people learn about their eligibility for relief programs related to 9/11.
Lukas Alpert, a journalist who spent weeks covering the attacks from Ground Zero, said in a piece for New York Magazine that it took him 18 years to realize he was a victim of September 11.
He was diagnosed with thyroid cancer years after, and said, “it had never occurred to me that my illness might have any connection to September 11.
“The picture most people have in their minds of a 9/11 victim is of an office worker trapped in the burning buildings or a firefighter rushing into the towers. I was neither of these.”
The first round of documents will provide a snapshot of the months after the attacks in New York City, when officials were struggling to balance recovery efforts with lingering toxins and fears of terrorism.
Only a percentage of air quality reports taken around Ground Zero will be released in the batch, which includes the so-called Harding memo where the city discussed its potential liability stemming from the air quality.
There are also documents related to 7 World Trade Center, which collapsed in the afternoon on September 11, 2001, and how asbestos were found at 15 John Street, a building less than a mile from the trade center.
“The very least our city owes the families, survivors and first responders whose lives were forever changed by the horrific terror attack of Sept. 11 is transparency and accountability,” Mamdani previously said.
The mayor noted on Tuesday that more documents will be released over the coming year, and will be free to access.
Officials noted the only information that will be redacted is personal information and security evaluations that could still pose security risks today.
The portal also puts an end to two lawsuits against the city, ending a years-long legal battle and bringing transparency to New Yorkers, officials said.
Actor Jon Stewart, a longtime advocate for those impacted by 9/11, also spoke at the press conference on Tuesday morning.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16942380/9-11-air-quality-documents-world-trade-center-mamdani/