{"id":242783,"date":"2025-09-21T01:35:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T01:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/242783\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T01:35:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T01:35:25","slug":"nyc-reverses-long-running-claim-it-cant-find-documents-on-what-city-hall-knew-about-9-11-toxins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/242783\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC reverses long-running claim it can’t find documents on what City Hall knew about 9\/11 toxins"},"content":{"rendered":"

After claiming for more than two decades they couldn\u2019t find any documents about what City Hall knew about the dangers of the 9\/11 toxins<\/a> swirling around Ground Zero, city lawyers have announced that they, indeed, have found records to share, the Daily News has learned.<\/p>\n

The sudden turnaround, announced in court documents filed Tuesday, comes just days after The News uncovered the fact that the city\u2019s own Department of Investigation was preparing to receive \u201cvolumes of data\u201d<\/a> on the subject from an array of city agencies.<\/p>\n

The DOI had been ordered to launch a probe by the City Council over what and when the city knew about the toxins kicked up during the terror attacks that have sickened or killed thousands of first responders.<\/p>\n

The News story, published as the city marked the 24th anniversary of the terror attacks, disclosed that only eight weeks into the DOI\u2019s review, the response was so overwhelming the agencyw as looking at the possibility of getting outside help to parse through all the data.<\/p>\n

\u201cCity Hall needs to stop gaslighting September 11th victims and their families about the existence of the documents,\u201d Andrew Carboy, who requested the documents told The News. \u201cWe now know that they do, in fact, exist, as we have long maintained. Pretending otherwise is disrespectful and hurtful.\u201d<\/p>\n

For months, the city has tried to quash a lawsuit Carboy filed in an effort to pry loose the data.\u00a0 City attorneys said the DEP didn\u2019t have any documents to share and called the search nothing more than a \u201cfishing expedition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a diligent search was performed of DEP\u2019s records, no responsive records were found,\u201d city attorneys claimed in court papers at the time.<\/p>\n

Carboy, who is representing 911 Health Watch, a responder and survivor advocacy group that filed a FOIL request for the documents, was getting nowhere. Then on Monday, he sent Judge James Clynes a copy of The News article about the DOI investigation that showed city agencies were, in fact, readying documents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government cannot disregard New York\u2019s Freedom of Information Law out of inconvenience,\u201d Carboy wrote. \u201cIt is far too easy for the City to assert that it undertook a \u201cdiligent search\u201d for records and could not find them when responding to the subject FOIL requests.\u201d<\/p>\n

9\/11<\/p>\n

\"First<\/p>\n

Mark Lennihan\/AP<\/p>\n

First responders at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001 after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. (Mark Lennihan\/AP)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gulf between the prompt, overwhelming response to DOI and the denial to sitting Congressional representatives, 9\/11 Health Watch and surviving family members warrants judicial intervention,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The following day, the city responded, announcing they were withdrawing their motion to dismiss. And \u2014 as it tuned out \u2014 they said they found some documents.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecently, (the DEP) has located multiple boxes that are believed to contain at least some responsive records,\u201d Assistant Corporation Counsel Saarah Dhinsa wrote in her letter.<\/p>\n

The letter didn\u2019t disclose a timeline as to when they are going to share the documents.<\/p>\n

This sudden admission was long overdue, Carboy said Friday. The city went through great pains to deny the existence of the documents they had the whole time, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cA DEP staffer swore under penalties of perjury, in a written Court submission, that no documents could be located. Two attorneys, in separate certifications, then attested, as officers of the Court, that no documents could be found,\u201d Carboy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city then criticized our efforts as baseless,\u201d he said, adding the city never explained what efforts they took to find the documents.<\/p>\n

The city Law Department declined comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir actions speak louder than words\u201d 911 Health Watch Executive Director Ben Chevat said about the city\u2019s sudden turnaround.<\/p>\n

City Councilwoman Gale Brewer wrote the resolution that the full council unanimously passed on July 14, ordering the DOI to probe what information the city had on\u00a0Ground Zero toxins<\/a>\u00a0after the 9\/11 attacks and when they had it. It\u00a0marks the first time a provision of the City Charter allows the Council to order the DOI to undertake an investigation with a bill.<\/p>\n

Eight weeks after being ordered to\u00a0launch their review<\/a>, the DOI said last week is was preparing to receive \u201cvolumes of data\u201d on the subject.<\/p>\n

The agency sent out letters to every agency, asking them to identify and turn over any relevant documents they had on 9\/11 toxins following the terror attacks. Nearly all of the agencies contacted have responded to the DOI\u2019s request, officials said.<\/p>\n

Some agencies will be providing information that will be specific to the request. Others will be providing \u201cmore general\u201d information about the aftermath of the 9\/11 terror attacks, the DOI said.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately disclosed exactly which agencies have responded. The council has tasked the DOI with providing a report in two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s working,\u201d Brewer said about the DOI investigation and the city admitting that they had some documents on the issue. \u201cI remember when (Rep.) Carolyn (Maloney) tried and (Rep. Jerrold) Nadler tried. We\u2019ve signed countless letters over the years asking for these documents and we got nothing. Nothing but silence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Adams administration as well as its predecessors, have fought the release of any 9\/11 studies and documents, claiming they couldn\u2019t find them. The city has also repeatedly said it was worried about a barrage of lawsuits from survivors and first responders suffering from 9\/11 illnesses if the documents were released.<\/p>\n

After receiving requests for the documents from New York\u2019s Congressional Delegation, \u201cOn March 22, 2023, Mayor Adams wrote to the members of Congress, acknowledging that such previously unreleased documents existed, but advising that they would not be disclosed,\u201d Carboy said in court documents. \u201cThe Mayor cited \u2018litigation risks\u2019 as a barrier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mayor requested both federal funding and additional federal protections for the City before the documents would be released,\u201d the attorney added.<\/p>\n

More than 140,000 first responders and survivors are enrolled in the U.S. Center for Disease Control\u2019s\u00a0WTC Health Program,\u00a0<\/a>which provides health care benefits for medical conditions related to exposure to the toxins that hung over Ground Zero. Out of that number, about 81,000 have a certified condition linked to the toxins that hung above Ground Zero.<\/p>\n

The documents, once released, won\u2019t likely cause a flurry of lawsuits since first responders and survivors who are receiving help from the WTC Health Program and the 9\/11 Victim Compensation fund have already signed waivers agreeing not to sue over their illnesses. More than 100,000 have signed these waivers, officials said.<\/p>\n

The real value of the documents, Brewer said, is what can be learned in case a similar attack ever happens again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis investigation will hopefully give us some clue as to what to do differently,\u201d Brewer said. \u201cYou always need to prepare for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: September 20, 2025 at 12:42 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After claiming for more than two decades they couldn\u2019t find any documents about what City Hall knew about…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":242784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,2451,3059,5295,1370,728,405,403,5294,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5293,5321,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-242783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-county","11":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-new-york-county","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkcity","20":"tag-ny","21":"tag-nyc","22":"tag-nyc-crime","23":"tag-sub-county-region","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-united-states-of-america","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","28":"tag-us","29":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115239723411587360","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}