The city is trying to quash a lawsuit seeking pivotal data on the toxins that hovered over lower Manhattan following the 9/11 terror attacks, claiming it doesn’t have the important documents and that the search for the long-sought records is nothing more than a “fishing expedition,” the Daily News has learned.
In court papers filed late last year, the city’s Corporation Counsel asked a judge to toss a Freedom of Information Law petition filed by 9/11 survivor advocates and families of 9/11 illness victims that demands the city’s Department of Environmental Protection hand over any studies they have about air quality at Ground Zero.
The city stonewalled the request, asking for repeated delays, then filed a motion to dismiss on Nov. 7, 2024, claiming they had already certified no records were found.
“After a diligent search was performed of DEP’s records, no responsive records were found,” city attorneys claimed in court papers, never explaining the steps taken in the search.
Except for a few news articles noting the DEP conducted air quality studies at Ground Zero, attorneys Andrew Carboy and Matthew McCauley, who are representing 9/11 survivors and advocates, have provided no evidence that the DEP has the records they’re seeking, city attorneys said.
“Petitioner’s speculative conjecture is also clearly exemplified by the fact that the same FOIL request was sent to five City agencies, the Office of the Mayor, and the New York City Council in what can fairly be described as a fishing expedition since all of these entities perform vastly different functions and would therefore keep vastly different records,” the city noted in court papers.
A spokesman for the city’s Law Department said speculating that the documents do exist “is not a reason to challenge” the city’s response.
“As we have maintained, the DEP has certified that following a diligent search, records relating to the Petitioner’s FOIL request were not found,” spokesman Lucian Chalfen said.
Carboy said the city has simply shrugged off the important search and was “denigrating our Freedom of Information requests.”
“The City resists, with maximum effort, disclosure of its September 11th archives,” Carboy said in court papers responding to the dismissal request. “It matters not if the record requester is a first responder, surviving family member, member of Congress or member of the City Council. All requests are met with delay and, ultimately, denial.
“The 2001 World Trade Center disaster is, inarguably, an event without parallel in City history,” Carboy continued. “Why then, decades later, do the City’s own records of the collapse, air quality monitoring, and assessments of public health risks from reopening the Financial District and surrounding neighborhoods and schools, remain secret?”
In letters to Congress, the city admitted it has the records, but “were seeking a quid pro quo, in the form of financial aid and additional legal protections from the federal government in order for these documents to finally be released to the public,” Carboy told The News.
“The Mayor’s Office and DEP took the lead in evaluating air quality in lower Manhattan. Decades later, in response to our Freedom of Information requests, the City denies this history,” he said.
The DEP is not the only one failing to find any 9/11 records. The City’s Office of Emergency Management has also not found any studies.
OEM, which worked at Ground Zero for months after the attacks, speculated the studies they made were lost when 7 World Trade Center collapsed — on Sept. 11, 2001. By that logic, the documents were destroyed before they were written, Carboy said.
One city official said uncovering the paperwork from these 9/11 studies posed a challenge because many documents at the time weren’t digitized, requiring the agencies to dig into decades-old paper records.
The Adams administration has made it clear it does not =plan to release any documents until it determines if releasing the information will get the city sued.
“We are aware of requests to produce city documents on the aftermath of the attacks, which would require extensive legal review to identify privileged material and liability risk, and are exploring ways to determine the cost of such a review,” a mayoral spokeswoman said last year.
But the city may soon have to cough up any documents they have about the 9/11 attack.
The City Council has introduced a bill that will direct the Department of Investigation to use its oversight powers to obtain documents detailing what the city knew about toxic air conditions in Manhattan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
A council hearing on the bill, which was introduced by City Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) is scheduled for Jan. 29.
“At this point what may be the only way forward is for the City Council to take action, pass Council Member Brewer’s bill directing the Department of Investigations to finally get to the truth,” said Benjamin Chevat, executive director of 911 Health Watch, which is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
The FOIL request asked for “documents, reports, assessments” about the toxins, dust and fumes that came from the destroyed World Trade Center and other information about future health threats to 9/11 first responders and survivors.
An estimated 400,000 people were exposed to Ground Zero toxins on 9/11 and the days that followed, including 91,000 first responders, 57,000 residents who lived south of Canal St. and 15,000 students and administrators at lower Manhattan schools, according to city statistics.
