New York City has released more than 170,000 pages of previously undisclosed records about air quality following the September 11, 2001, attacks, showing city officials at the time knew conditions around Ground Zero were unsafe to breathe despite repeated assurances to the public.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the release at a news conference Tuesday.
“As the years pass and the human toll grows, we reckon with the cost of September 11th whenever another New Yorker is stolen from us too soon,” Mamdani said. “Now, close to 25 years later, more people have died from 9/11-related illnesses than were killed on the day itself.”
At least 140,000 people from all 50 states have enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, and 49,000 have been diagnosed with certified WTC-related cancers, according to the 9/11 Memorial. Mamdani said Tuesday that more people are eligible for assistance than are currently enrolled, including residents who lived near the site but have not received outreach and those who live outside of New York.
I lived down the street from the WTC pit for a few years in college, I remember that high-up surfaces like ledges above subway stairs and awnings above storefronts that were protected from rains often still had a thick layer of white-ish dust on them and it was always so eerie to realize that probably a majority of it was from 9/11, probably a certain amount of pulverized human bone in there…
People have stumbled upon undisturbed remnants of 9/11 in NYC as recently as 2013.