A massive tranche of never-before-released documents shows how New York City officials knew the potentially devastating consequences of exposure to Ground Zero toxins in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
New York firefighter unions say the documents affirm what they have been warning about for years as they pressed for support from Washington, D.C., while caring for thousands of sick members and planning funerals for hundreds of others who died from 9/11-related illnesses.
“We were dying with every breath,” Lt. James Brosi, president of the FDNY Uniformed Fire Officers Association, told reporters Wednesday.
“The city knew it,” said Brosi, who was among the Ground Zero responders. “It is appalling that they did this to us … It was an utter lie, and yet they never stopped making public safety announcements over the airwaves.”
At least 453 members of the New York City Fire Department have died from World Trade Center-related illnesses, surpassing the more than 343 firefighters who died in the response, according to the unions. More than 12,000 union members have been diagnosed with at least one 9/11-related illness, the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program report found.
open image in gallery“I’m not looking for restitution from the people who lied to us, but I would like the world to know they made a conscious choice,” Brosi said Wednesday.
More than 170,000 pages of newly released records by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration reveal that New York City officials were likely well aware of potential dangers from asbestos and other toxins in the air and in buildings surrounding the World Trade Center despite repeated assurances to the public that the air was safe to breathe.
Over the two decades that followed, thousands of first responders and other New Yorkers developed lung disease, neurological illnesses and cancers.
The documents — released to resolve years of protracted litigation from 9/11 Health Watch — contain only a fraction of the air quality reports that were taken at Ground Zero.
But the tranche includes previously undisclosed internal memos that suggest city officials knew of the dangers and anticipated thousands of possible lawsuits as they sought to limit the city’s legal liability.
“I’m not calling for anyone’s head,” Brosi said Wednesday. “They made an economic decision not to tell us … and prioritized the health of this city over the health of the citizens … Now it’s time to pay the bill.”
Robert Eustace, president of the FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association, said he’s unsure whether next steps for union members after years of fighting for the attention of lawmakers will include more legislation or legal actions.
“It’s just kind of disgusting, in the end,” he said Wednesday.
“We buried someone just yesterday,” said Eustace, another Ground Zero responder. “We have thousands of members who are sick … We hope that everybody never forgets that sacrifice.”
open image in galleryNewly disclosed records, which span the months and years after the attacks, contain apparent evidence that firefighters say validates what they have long suspected.
The mayor said Tuesday that the documents reveal a stark contrast between what officials knew at the time — and what survivors have been told.
“It would be one thing if government had stood alongside survivors and provided them with everything they needed at every step of the way,” Mamdani said. “And yet we know that could not be further from what actually happened.”
The documents include the so-called “Harding memo” from October 2001, what advocates have called the “smoking gun.” In the memo, officials under then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani were made aware of the extent of potential liability for thousands of people impacted by the attacks.
The city also could be sued for “health advisories [that] caused individuals … to return to the area too soon (causing toxic exposure or emotional harm),” according to the memo, which anticipated a wave of “toxic tort cases that might arise in the next few decades.”
Another memo from a top official in then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office in February 2022 outlines concerns from Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, who warned that the city could face “serious litigation” over the presence of toxic debris.
Nadler at the time accused the Environmental Protection Agency of withholding test results that showed “higher than acceptable levels of asbestos and other contaminants” and recommended that the Federal Emergency Management Agency pay for extensive clean-up operations.
If Nadler’s concerns are “justified,” according to the memo, then the city is “not informing people of the real health risks in lower Manhattan” and “the City may face major public relations problems and is leaving itself open to a barrage of lawsuits.”