City Releases 40,000 More 9/11 Records on Air Quality

The Mamdani administration on Wednesday published another 40,000 documents tied to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, expanding a public archive that survivors and first responders spent years fighting to open. The latest release brings the total to more than 60,000 documents spanning over 200,000 pages, according to 9/11 Health Watch, the advocacy group whose legal battle with the city helped force the disclosures.

The records are available through the city’s September 11th records portal, which launched in September as part of a settlement of two Freedom of Information Law lawsuits. The suits sought records about air quality, health risks and government decisions in the aftermath of the attacks, which occurred 25 years ago.

In a statement Wednesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the city’s “commitment to honoring the victims of the horrific terror attacks of Sept. 11 and delivering accountability and transparency to survivors cannot begin or end on the anniversary.”

The new batch follows the administration’s initial release of more than 170,000 pages, which included internal city records raising questions about what officials knew about hazardous conditions in Lower Manhattan as residents, workers and first responders returned to the area. Among them was a February 2002 memo warning that the city might not be adequately informing the public about health risks. Another document, a May 2002 note, indicated that an official involved in cleanup discussions sought to avoid using the word “risk” in letters concerning the effort.

9/11 Health Watch said its review of that first set of records found evidence that government officials recognized the extent of the air-quality hazards but failed to adequately change course. “What we have seen after a review of the first tranche of 170,000 released documents is a disturbing record that, even when the problems and hazards were realized, the City, the State and the Federal government did not change course and deal with them head-on,” said Benjamin Chevat, the group’s executive director, in a statement Wednesday.

The organization said its attorneys have begun examining the newly released documents and will report any additional findings. Wednesday’s disclosure is the second installment under the city’s settlement with 9/11 Health Watch, which calls for more records to be made public over the coming months.

A separate inquiry is also underway. A City Council-mandated Department of Investigation review is examining what city officials knew about post-9/11 air quality, when they knew it, and why certain decisions were made.

For the people who lived, worked and responded in the shadow of the pile, the portal is more than an archive. It is a chance to read, in the government’s own words, how decisions about their exposure were weighed. With more installments promised and two separate reviews continuing, the full picture of what the city knew, and when, is still being assembled.