NYC Officials Probe For Answers On Hidden 9/11 Toxins Files

NEW YORK, NY— Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Manhattan's borough president, called on state leaders to launch a sweeping search for records on toxic exposure following the Sept. 11 attacks, expanding an ongoing effort that has already uncovered dozens of boxes of previously undisclosed materials.

In a letter obtained by the Daily News, Hoylman-Sigal urged Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to direct agencies to locate any documents detailing what officials knew about toxins released during and after the collapse of the World Trade Center.

“Responders at Ground Zero, along with residents, commuters, and students who entered the disaster zone deserve to know what their government knew, and when it knew it, even as the government was claiming that all was well,” Hoylman-Sigal wrote.

He pointed to the state’s role in the response, asking what officials under former Gov. George Pataki knew in the days and months after the attacks.

“The city was not alone in responding to 9/11,” he wrote. “What did the Pataki administration know? Surely state agencies had a role and salient information during the crisis in the days, weeks and months after the attacks.”

Hoylman-Sigal said he wants an agencywide search modeled on a recent investigation by the city’s Department of Investigation, which uncovered 68 boxes of documents within weeks after years of denials that such records existed.

“As the elected representative for 1.6 million Manhattanites, it’s incumbent on me to echo demands at the state level and learn what, if anything, New York State has in its repository of files,” he said.

A spokesperson for Hochul said the administration is reviewing the request.

City officials across multiple administrations, including under former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, had long declined to release records related to air quality and health risks tied to the attacks. That changed after legislation sponsored by City Councilmember Gale Brewer mandated a formal probe.

The investigation gained momentum when the Department of Environmental Protection produced 68 boxes of materials after previously stating no responsive documents could be found, following lawsuits and repeated Freedom of Information Law requests from attorneys representing survivors and victims’ families.

More than 140,000 responders and survivors are enrolled in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s World Trade Center Health Program. About 81,000 have certified conditions linked to exposure.

On Sept. 11, 343 members of the Fire Department of New York died. In the years since, more than 400 additional members have died from illnesses tied to the aftermath.