New York City has released more than 170,000 pages of air quality records from the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, offering the clearest picture yet of what officials knew about the toxic conditions around Ground Zero, even as the public was assured the air was safe to breathe.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the release Tuesday, September 8, 2026, at a City Hall news conference, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks. The records, including air quality reports, contamination data, and internal correspondence among city officials, are now available to the public.
Access the records: The full portal is available at nyc.gov/sept11docs.
What the Documents Reveal
The release includes records from the ‘68 boxes’ that the City says were not located until 2025 despite repeated FOIL requests. According to city officials, records highlighted by the administration indicate that City officials were aware of serious concerns about toxic exposure and potential health risks at Ground Zero. The Harding Memo shows that by October 2001 the City was considering potential toxic-exposure claims while public assurances about air safety continued.
The initial release includes three collections the 9/11 community has sought for years:
- The Harding Memo;
- The “68 boxes” that were not located until 2025 despite repeated Freedom of Information Law requests; and
- A set of records concerning World Trade Center 7.
The Harding Memo first surfaced publicly at a press conference in February 2026, where Pitta & Baione LLP partner Matthew Baione joined Thomas Hart of Operating Engineers Local 94 and 9/11 Health Watch.
Mamdani said generations of New Yorkers had been denied access to information many long believed existed. “For a long time New Yorkers have known the truth, but they have been unable to see the truth in any document presented to them,” he said. He added that many of those exposed to Ground Zero dust and debris were misled about the risks: “The leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air.”
“You Can’t Heal What You Don’t Reveal”
Matthew Baione said the significance of this release is not confined to what any single document says. For many responders and survivors, September 11 is not simply a date in the past. Its health consequences can emerge years or even decades later…sometimes seemingly out of the blue. Diagnoses that change the future of the victims and their dependents, sometimes virtually overnight and without warning. Claims that have to be proven from scratch, all over again.
For many families, the consequences of 9/11 have never ended, despite the fact that every person touched by it wants certainty, closure, and finality. The release of these records opens a door that has been shut to our clients and all 9/11 victims and their dependents for nearly a quarter century. And what is behind the now-opened door does not provide the certainty, closure, or finality which the victims and their families have long sought. Rather, the released documents confirm the evidence supporting what members of the 9/11 community have argued for years: that serious hazards existed while the public was receiving reassurances about safety.
Seeing that admission in writing, in the City’s own words, of course does not undo the harm resulting from the government’s intentional misinformation campaign, but it does replace suspicion with certainty, and for many people that is the beginning of being able to move forward towards closure and finality.
Teaching the Next Generation
There is a second reason this records release matters, and it has nothing to do with litigation.
No child entering New York City’s K–12 schools this fall was alive on September 11, 2001. At this point in time, some of their teachers were not yet born either. 9/11, for tens of thousands of students growing up now, is merely a chapter, and in some cases, a page in a history textbook. They are not taught, and really do not know anything about what it was like for those in the 9/11 community who lived through those horrific attacks, and thereafter. The part of the 9/11 story that routinely tends to get left out is the part that came after the Twin Towers: the difficult questions raised when the push to return to normal conflicts with public-health transparency about the dangers of the toxin-polluted air they were – and would be – breathing for an unknown period of time.
The disclosure by Mayor Mamdani not only serves to illuminate what happened on and after 9/11, but also serves to educate the next generation of New Yorkers, those who will actually be living with the consequences of how we initially responded on the day of, and in the days, weeks, and months after this disaster, so as not to make the same mistake.
Why This Matters for the 9/11 Community
Notably, the records release follows years of demands for transparency from survivors, advocates, and first and secondary responders. The release accompanies a settlement of two lawsuits brought by our friend and colleague Matthew McCauley and his co-counsel, Andrew Carboy, of 9/11 Health Watch, resolving them under an agreement that includes ongoing oversight over the city’s air quality records. In May 2026, a New York Supreme Court justice found that the city’s Department of Environmental Protection had acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in denying those requests.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who lived in Lower Manhattan after the attacks, noted that residents and first responders were repeatedly told the air was safe, yet thousands later developed serious illnesses, including cancer. Activist Jon Stewart, speaking alongside the mayor, said the records address concerns advocates have raised for years: “There was poison in the air and on the ground and in the windowsills and in your air conditioners.” He accused officials of prioritizing a return to normalcy over public health.
Congressman Jerry Nadler, who represented Ground Zero and surrounding communities at the time, said he and his colleagues warned local and federal officials about the airborne toxins and were not heeded. He said the records show City officials anticipated thousands of potential toxic-exposure claims, and that concealing those predictions prolonged the fight in Congress for funding to care for them.
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal noted that the toxic dust and smoke contained more than 2,500 contaminants, and that tens of thousands of members of the 9/11 community live with respiratory illnesses, cancers, and other conditions associated with 9/11 exposure. The scale of that toll was documented again this month, when the city and FDNY released a 25-year report on the long-term health impact of 9/11.
Steven Banks, the city’s corporation counsel, said the records include information on carcinogenic materials and other environmental hazards that can help the public better understand air quality conditions in Lower Manhattan after the attacks. He acknowledged the release could lead to future litigation but said transparency outweighed those concerns.
Proving You Were in the Exposure Zone
For responders and survivors, one part of the announcement may matter more than the documents themselves.
The Mamdani administration has announced that it will appoint dedicated personnel at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services and in New York City Public Schools to help individuals obtain records that may establish presence for purposes of the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) and the Victim Compensation Fund (VCF), which are federal programs that were created under the Zadroga Act.
Proving where you were can be one of the hardest parts of a 9/11 benefits claim, particularly for residents, students, and area workers who never had a badge, a timesheet, or a duty roster. Employers may have since closed, schools may have merged, and leases from 2001 are long expired. Having city staff assigned to locate those records is a meaningful change.
The administration also said it will work to promote participation in both the WTCHP and the VCF. Former Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who fought to create and permanently fund both programs, said the administration’s records-access initiative may help survivors obtain documents needed to establish their presence and secure the benefits they are owed.
What Comes Next
This portal will be updated regularly as the Law Department reviews additional city records over the next 12 months, with personally identifiable information redacted before release. The city expects substantially more documents to become public during that period. Mayor Mamdani’s FY27 budget includes $34 million to build and maintain the portal.
Separately, the City Council’s independent Department of Investigation inquiry into what and when the City knew, what it knew, is now fully funded, according to Council Member Gale Brewer, who first pushed for it.
These files are expected to provide one of the most extensive public looks yet at how officials handled air quality concerns in the weeks and months after September 11, which is potentially even more significant for those who are currently pursuing health claims and benefits tied to Ground Zero exposure.
You May Qualify for 9/11 Exposure Benefits
If you lived, worked, attended school, volunteered, or participated in response or recovery efforts in Lower Manhattan, including areas south of Houston Street, you may qualify for 9/11-related health or compensation benefits depending on when and where you were present and other eligibility requirements. VCF Special Master Allison Turkel recently urged those affected to register, even without a current diagnosis.
Contact Pitta & Baione LLP for a Free Consultation on Seeking Benefits for a 9/11-Related Condition
The records released this week do not, on their own, change what you may be entitled to; what they change is how much of the truth is finally visible. The records are also a reminder of why the health and compensation programs created for the 9/11 community remain important twenty-five years later.
If you, or someone in your family, is living with a 9/11-related illness, or if you or a loved one were in Lower Manhattan after the attacks and have never registered, we can help you understand where you stand. Pitta & Baione LLP has spent more than a decade helping first and secondary responders, survivors, area workers, residents, students, and families receive their benefits. There is no cost to speak with us, and no fee unless we recover compensation for you.
Call or contact us online for a free, confidential consultation.
