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NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Tuesday that New York City has released more than 170,000 pages of air quality records from the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, shedding new light on what officials knew about toxic conditions around Ground Zero while publicly assuring residents and rescue workers that the air was safe to breathe.
The records, which include air quality reports, contamination data and correspondence among city officials, are now available through a public portal as the city prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
Click here to view the 9/11 records portal.
The documents were stored in 68 boxes in a city office, and many were only discovered last year, according to city officials.
City officials said records already reviewed by the Mamdani administration show government leaders understood the dangers posed by burning toxins at Ground Zero. Documents from 2001 indicate officials were concerned about potential lawsuits related to chemical exposure even as the city continued to tell the public that conditions were safe.
“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.
At a City Hall news conference announcing the release, Mamdani said generations of New Yorkers were denied access to information that many had long believed existed. He said the records were being made public because “for a long time New Yorkers have known the truth, but they have been unable to see the truth in any document presented to them.”
The mayor also said many of the people exposed to Ground Zero dust and debris were misled about the risks they faced.
“The leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” Mamdani said.
The release follows years of demands for transparency from 9/11 survivors, advocates and first responders and resolves litigation brought by 9/11 Health Watch, an advocacy group that sued the city to force publication of the records.
The mayor ordered the release of tens of thousands of documents long withheld from the public, and in so doing, settled two lawsuits forcing the disclosure.
Earlier this year, elected officials and advocates intensified calls for the documents to be made public. Julie Menin, who lived in Lower Manhattan after the attacks, said residents and first responders were repeatedly told the air was safe, yet thousands later developed serious illnesses, including cancer.
Speaking alongside the mayor, activist Jon Stewart said the newly released records confirm what many New Yorkers suspected for years.
“There was poison in the air and on the ground and in the windowsills and in your air conditioners,” Stewart said, accusing city officials of prioritizing a return to normalcy over public health concerns.
Steven Banks, the city’s corporation counsel, said the records include information about carcinogenic materials and other environmental hazards that can help the public better understand air quality conditions in Lower Manhattan after the attacks. He acknowledged the release could lead to future litigation but said transparency outweighed those concerns.
The Mamdani administration said additional records will be reviewed, redacted and posted in the coming months as officials continue examining documents related to environmental contamination and the city’s response to the attacks. The newly released files are expected to provide one of the most extensive public looks yet at how government officials handled air quality concerns in the weeks and months after Sept. 11.
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