Asbestos dust and toxic smoke-filled air were no match for officials seeking to reopen NYC after 9/11, documents reveal

Asbestos dust and toxic smoke-filled air were no match for officials seeking to reopen NYC after 9/11, documents reveal Some 170,000 pages of documents released by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration show city and federal officials were aware of health risks from reopening lower Manhattan after 9/11 and also feared extensive lawsuits - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments More than 170,000 pages of newly released records, never before shown to the public, reveal that New York City officials knew of potential dangers from exposure to Ground Zero toxins in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks — 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 linked to expansive recovery efforts and their lives in the shadow of the attack, as clouds of chemicals, cement dust, asbestos and other toxic debris lingered in the air and in buildings. According to the World Trade Center Health Program, more than 9,000 people have died from 9/11-related illnesses, including 600 firefighters — exceeding the nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks themselves and the more than 300 firefighters who died in the rescue efforts. At least 49,000 people have been diagnosed with cancers related to the World Trade Center attack and its aftermath, according to the 9/11 Memorial. The documents — released by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration 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. Mayor Rudy Giuliani warned of ‘substantial lawsuits’ The documents include the so-called “Harding memo” from October 2001, what advocates have called the “smoking gun.” In the memo, New York City officials under then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani were made aware of the extent of potential liability for thousands of people impacted by the attacks. That memo, from then-City Hall lobbyist Michelle Goldsen to then-Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert Harding, warned that the city’s Law Department estimated “35,000 potential plaintiffs” from the attacks. Officials feared the city could be on the hook for “substantial damages to compensate individuals for their loss,” according to the memo. Officials also predicted “direct effect” lawsuits arising from “public safety officers directing individuals who relied (to their detriment) on the direction.” 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.” Five days after the attacks, Giuliani’s administration told New Yorkers that “the general public’s risk for any short- or long-term adverse health effects are very low.” Roughly two weeks later, the administration said that “the air quality is safe and acceptable.” Several days later, “despite the smoky conditions” surrounding the site, “test results from the ongoing monitoring of airborne contaminants indicate that the levels continue to be below the level of concern to public health,” Giuliani’s office said at the time. Goldsen’s memo suggested that Congress could create a fund to limit the city’s liability burden, or that the city should request “indemnification” from the federal government “for all liability claims.” “This form of relief could also assist the City in the long-term as well by including toxic tort cases that might arise in the next few decades,” the memo says. “This proposal would require the City to devote resources to defending these claims and then seek Federal indemnification. This alternative would, therefore, still require the City to devote a tremendous amount of time and resources to these cases.” EPA all-clear just a week after attacks draws apology Christine Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor who headed the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush at the time, told the public that the air was safe to breathe in the days just after the attacks. “Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, D.C. that their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink,” Whitman wrote in a report issued just a week after the attacks, on Sept. 18, 2001. “The concentrations are such that they don’t pose a health hazard.” Two years later, a report from the EPA’s internal watchdog determined that the Whitman EPA report relied on insufficient data to justify its findings. Whitman, in an interview with The Guardian in 2016, apologized and admitted for the first time she was wrong about that declaration. “I’m very sorry that people are sick,” she said at the time. “I’m very sorry that people are dying and if the EPA and I in any way contributed to that, I’m sorry. We did the very best we could at the time with the knowledge we had.” ‘Daily’ exposure to asbestos found everywhere within half-mile of Ground Zero The documents include extensive, months-long correspondence for properties surrounding the World Trade Center, where health inspectors were collecting dust samples from the debris that blanketed neighborhoods for months after the attack. Records for 15 John St., a building that sits roughly a third of a mile from Ground Zero, indicate asbestos was found on roofs, cable lines and facades surrounding the building. Similar reports for properties across lower Manhattan are stuffed throughout the document dump. A series of documents from a resident on Rector Street, roughly half a mile from the Twin Towers, reveals the frustrating attempts from New Yorkers pushing officials to reinvestigate how maintenance workers and residents were “daily being exposed to this asbestos residue.” World Trade Center dust “has been improperly cleaned up, or only partially cleaned up,” the person wrote in February 2002. “Felt I had to do something,” the person wrote. “Since we lost electrical power after the buildings collapsed, I couldn’t vacuum the large amount of dust that had come into the apartment through the open sliding glass door. So I scooped up dust from coffee table into a paper bag. Also started to clean the floor with wet paper towels. Mostly futile since dust was so light and Airy.” Some reports indicate that asbestos levels were under approved limits, though others show that they may have been alarmingly high. Environmental reports also include lists of locations where dust samples showed dangerous levels of asbestos in the days immediately the attacks. City Hall alerted to ‘real health risks’ in February 2002 Another memo from a top official in then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office on February 8, 2022 outlines concerns from Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, who warned that the city could face “serious litigation” over the presence of toxic debris. “Congressman Nadler believes that the EPA has neglected its responsibility for monitoring indoor air quality around Ground Zero,” according to the memo, which was compiled by a city official, Ester Fuchs, and sent to six others, including the city’s top lawyer, Michael Cardozo. He accused Whitman’s office of withholding test results that showed “higher than acceptable levels of asbestos and other contaminants” and recommended that FEMA pay for extensive clean-up operations. The city’s Department of Health and federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry determined there “no elevated levels of asbestos in indoor air,” though “dust sample tests showed low levels of asbestos in some samples and fiberglass in some other dust samples,” according to the memo. “Airborne fiberglass can cause cough and skin, throat and eye irritation,” the memo says “While these findings are not unexpected, they underscore the importance of proper cleaning to minimize exposure, as [the health department] has repeatedly emphasized.” The memo then outlines “potential problems for City Hall” and “reconsidering city policy.” “Seemingly reputable scientists have come down on both sides of the argument,” according to the memo. “However, if Nadler’s concerns are justified, we are not informing people of the real health risks in lower Manhattan, the City may face major public relations problems and is leaving itself open to a barrage of lawsuits.” That same month, Bloomberg publicly defended “acceptable” air quality test results. “I think some people are just never going to want to believe that,” he said at the time. In a statement on Tuesday, Nadler said the release of the documents is a “long-overdue reckoning.” “My colleagues and I who represented Ground Zero and the surrounding communities immediately warned local and federal officials of the health risks posed by toxins in the air at the time,” he said. “Our warnings were not heeded, and now we and the public know that City Hall, led by former Mayor Giuliani, predicted that thousands of responders and community members would face devastating long-term health impacts from these toxins.” The former mayor’s “intentional obfuscation of the truth is a slap in the face to the heroes and community members who were exposed at Ground Zero and in schools, offices, and homes throughout the surrounding area,” Nadler said. In a post on X after the Mamdani administration’s release of the documents, a member of Giuliani’s staff wrote that the EPA “made a mistake.” “The EPA said it was safe. They made a mistake. No one covered it up,” the person wrote. “Giuliani has 9/11 lung disease like so many others because he couldn’t be kept from helping the people,” the person added. More documents are coming The records provide only a fraction of the air quality reports and memos surrounding the attack, but their release was seen as vindication by advocates who have pushed back against decades of denial and refusals by city officials when it comes to information about toxic materials at Ground Zero. Earlier this year, a New York judge determined that former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration violated the Freedom of Information Law by denying 911 Health Watch’s 2023 records requests. The city did not appeal, and Mamdani’s administration reached an agreement to publicly disclose the records, which are expected to be rolled out in waves. 911 Health Watch and city officials will also meet monthly to review their release and the city’s compliance with the agreement. Mamdani’s upcoming fiscal year budget includes $34 million to create and maintain an online portal that include materials from 68 boxes of documents that were discovered last year. That portal will be regularly updated over the next 12 months. “For too long, New Yorkers have had to fight for access to records that should have been available to them in the first place,” Mamdani said in a statement announcing the records dump. “This portal is part of our administration’s enduring commitment to honor those we lost, care for those living with lasting health consequences and give thousands of New Yorkers the answer they’ve been asking for,” he added. The documents, which were uncovered in insurance records and various city offices, could also expose the city to new or more-expansive lawsuits as survivors and victims’ families turn to the city and federal government for support. 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