Letter to Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City - Requesting Giuliani Administration Documents on 9/11 Toxins

Letter

Dear Mayor de Blasio:

Given the recent 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we call on you and your administration to
open the City's files on the aftermath of the attacks to help provide injured and ill 9/11
responders, survivors, and their families a better understanding of what the City knew at the time
about the likely scope of the health crisis and when they knew it.

The time has come for a full accounting of the history of 9/11. President Biden's ongoing review
and declassification of documents related to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's possible
involvement in the 9/11 attacks were a critical first step in this accounting. Providing full
transparency on what the government knew about the health risks at Ground Zero and how they
potentially covered up that information will finally provide transparency to a too-often
overlooked aspect of the attack's history.

Throughout our two decades of work with the 9/11 community to guarantee their health care and
compensation, we have faced resistance from many in the federal government -- namely to
admitting that the toxins released in the attacks and during cleanup posed a serious and ongoing
health hazard to those on the pile and in the vicinity. Those health risks, about which we
immediately warned the government, have now caused enormous harm to thousands of
responders and survivors. Many of them are now living with -- and too many are dying from --
9/11 related health conditions caused by exposure to those toxins 20 years ago.

In 2003, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report on how they
responded to 9/11.This report outlined what the federal government knew about the extent of
the problem and the clear health threat, after the EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman had
repeatedly said that the "air was safe to breathe." However, we have yet to see a full accounting
of what then-Mayor Giuliani and his administration knew at the time.

While previous reports have hinted at what the Giuliani administration knew about the health
risks, it is time for a complete accounting of this history. If it is true that they knew that
thousands of responders and community members would face tremendous long-term health
impacts, the administration unnecessarily delayed the effort to provide health care to the
thousands of responders and survivors exposed in the aftermath on the pile and in schools,
offices, and homes around the area.

It is imperative that we learn from the mistakes made in the aftermath of the attacks and ensure
that in any future disasters, we are better prepared to identify and deal with potential long-term
health risks.

We urge you to have the City of New York review its files and, in the interest of transparency,
fully release any information it has on the what the City knew about the hazards faced by 9/11
responders and survivors who lived, worked, and went to school in the covered disaster zone.

More specifically, we ask that the City release any documents related to 9/11 that are in its files
or emails from the period of September 11, 2001 through the spring of 2002. While some
documents may have been disclosed in past litigation, we do not believe this represents the
entirety of the City's files and demand a complete release.

Two decades later, a full review remains pressing. Elected officials who made life and death
decisions, and who failed to disclose vital information owe accountability to the public. Finally,
it is critical that lessons be learned to protect responders and the public in any future disaster.

Sincerely,

Carolyn B. Maloney

Jerrold Nadler

Source