NEW YORK CITY — As the nation prepares to mark 25 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, newly released documents are shedding light on hazardous contaminants detected in the air around the World Trade Center months after the Twin Towers collapsed, even as the public was being told the air was safe to breathe.
New York City leaders released more than 170,000 pages of previously undisclosed records related to air quality in the city following the attacks.
“These are documents that show what the city knew about the toxic air around Ground Zero, when they knew it, and how they acted to limit liability,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.
The records are shedding new light on what officials knew about conditions around Ground Zero while rescue workers and residents were being assured that the air was safe to breathe.
Mamdani said New Yorkers were misled about the dangers.
“Close to 25 years later, more people have died from 9/11-related illnesses than were killed on the day itself,” Mamdani said.
According to the report, the documents released by Mamdani came from dozens of boxes discovered last year in a city government office.
An advocacy group sued the city to have the records released.
The documents are said to contain only a fraction of the air quality reports taken following the attacks.
Jon Stewart, who has advocated on issues involving those affected by 9/11-related illnesses, said the impact continues nearly 25 years later.
“We’ve lost three times as many people to 9/11-related illnesses as we did on 9/11 -- three times as many -- almost 10,000 people,” Stewart said. “There’s more work to be done so far, and it continues.”
Local 10 photographer recalls conditions near Ground Zero
Local 10 News photographer Curt Calhoon spent nearly two weeks near Ground Zero covering the aftermath of the attacks while working for another news outlet.
“There was always a trail of dust coming out of the backs of trucks,” Calhoon recalled. “Everything was covered in powder.”
Calhoon is among at least 140,000 people from all 50 states enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program. According to the report, 49,000 people have been diagnosed with certified World Trade Center-related cancers.
Calhoon is now in remission after battling non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
He said the release of the documents brings mixed emotions.
“I’m glad they found these documents,” Calhoon said. “I’m sad at the fact that they waited so long for it to come to light. People should have known about this a long time ago.”
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