Press Releases

911 Health Watch Responds to NYC Request for More Time: No More Delays, Time’s Up

June 29, 2026

City Admits that 9/11 Records Exist, Contradicting Earlier and Repeated Statements that No Records Could Be Located

911 Health Watch Asks Court to Again Determine that City Violated Freedom of Information Law in Not Disclosing 9/11 Documents

June 29, 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Benjamin Chevat
911 Health Watch
646 477 1461
Ben.Chevat@911HealthWatch.org

Andrew Carboy
Law Offices of Andrew J. Carboy LLC
212 520 7565
acarboy@carboylaw.com

Matthew McCauley
Turken, Heath & McCauley, LLP.
914 363 6355
mmccauley@thmllp.com

On Friday, June 26, 911 Health Watch filed papers in New York Supreme Court opposing the request of the Mayor’s Office for a third extension of time to answer our Article 78 petition challenging the denial of a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request for records of the City’s response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. The case is Chevat v. The Office of the Mayor, et al. (Index No.153916/2026).

The Mayor’s Office has delayed responding for nearly three years, and fails to show the Court any justification for even more delay. In fact, the official position of the Mayor’s Office has been that it has no records of its response to the collapse of the World Trade Center, even though Rudolph Giuliani and the Mayor’s Office took the lead in the City’s response to the disaster.

Before 911 Health Watch filed its new lawsuit, the Mayor’s Office granted itself twelve extensions over thirty (30) months before denying the FOIL request. Yet another extension, this time in court, unnecessarily prolongs a dispute that has lasted nearly three years.

Attorneys for the Mayor’s Office now reveal that they are reviewing and producing responsive documents. They admit that responsive records exist, contradicting earlier and repeated statements that no records could be located.

In May of 2026, the State Supreme Court determined that the City violated public records law, acting arbitrarily and capriciously in denying an identical FOIL request by 911 Health Watch to the Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) for its September 11th archive (May 28, 2026, Decision and Order of Hon. James G. Clynes in Chevat v. DEP, Index No. 155678/2024). In that case DEP, like the Mayor’s Office, now, began producing records only after initiation of our Article 78 proceeding.

911 Health Watch demonstrates that the Mayor’s Office retains responsive records, by filing with the Court:

The 2002 Deputy Mayor Harding memo, an early risk assessment of claims that would result from citizens being advised the air of lower Manhattan was safe;
a 2002 City Law Department preservation directive that World Trade Center-related records be retained indefinitely;
2021 through 2023 correspondence between Congressional representatives and the Mayor’s Office in which the Mayor’s Office admits it has September 11 related records, but will not release them unless provided legal protection and financial benefits;

and

City Charter provisions mandating preservation of public records.

The records concern matters of substantial public importance. New Yorkers deserve to learn the truth surrounding the City’s management of toxic contaminants released by the World Trade Center collapse. What was the City’s awareness of actual health risks while simultaneously messaging air quality was “safe and acceptable”?

The World Trade Center collapsed a quarter century ago. The Mayor’s request for even more time to delay release of the City’s September 11th archive must be denied.

911 Health Watch seeks an immediate court ruling that the Mayor’s Office violated and continues to violate public records laws by its obstruction.

Said Benjamin Chevat, Executive Director 911 Healthwatch:

I have been saying since Mayor Mamdani was elected last year that he could be the Mayor who finally answers the question: what did the City know about the hazards caused by the toxic chemicals at Ground Zero, and when did it know it?

But he can’t be that Mayor if his staff closes our Freedom of Information Act request and says they have no documents, but his lawyer says they do have the documents but now need more time to provide them.

For the thousands of 9/11 responders and survivors still dealing with the impact of the toxins at Ground Zero, Mayor Mamdani needs to speak on this issue and say publicly that his administration will release all the records relating to what the City of New York knew about the hazards at Ground Zero and reverse his office’s closing our FOIL.

Mayor Mamdani needs to announce his support for the $4 million needed for the City Council’s DOI investigation to be completed, as that is the only way we will know exactly what the City knew and when it knew it and that his administration will cooperate with the DOI investigation.

Said Andrew Carboy, Pro Bono Attorney:

The bombshell revelation by the Mayor’s Office that it will soon release its September 11th files to 911 Health Watch is not enough. We are glad to prevail in our lawsuit against the Mayor’s Office and Law Department; however, the Court must address why the Mayor’s Office, the City Law Department, the DEP and the Department of Design and Construction denied that responsive records existed for years. We seek accountability for this breach of the public’s trust.

Is there some policy directive issued by the City ordering no disclosure of its September 11th archives under the Freedom of Information Law? Why are first responders, survivors, a non-profit organization and volunteer attorneys forced to seek Court intervention, repeatedly, for the simple release of public records? We already won a first ruling that the City violated the Freedom of Information Law, in our case against the DEP, and trust the New York Supreme Court to reach the right result concerning the obstruction by the Mayor and Law Department. Through our two lawsuits, we are moving closer to full release of the City’s closely guarded September 11th records.

Said Matthew McCauley, Pro Bono Attorney:

We have reached a point in this journey that George Carlin would define as “Vuja De”, which he said was “…that strange feeling that none of this has happened before, and then its gone” Over the years this has been further described as “the phenomenon of perceiving something that is actually familiar as strange or new.” Better yet, one word describes the City’s actions, surreal.

What is not Vuja De or Surreal is that documents exist that the City continues to withhold and, as the promise of “transparency” and “new ways” by the Mamdani administration gets closer to looking like the prior administration’s view of #NeverForget, the time to act is now. Rather than putting a thumb in the eye of our Judicial System and pretending that the City was not found to have already acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner in its handling of 9/11 documents held by NYC DEP, stop the shape shifting and turn over whatever is there so we can see if there is any chance what was known can save lives.

The World Trade Center Health Program recently released a study that clearly shows that the 9/11 community benefits from information it can process. The Mamdani administration has the opportunity to further those benefits and deliver what may the most important documents about what was first known about exposure. We hope he makes the right decision, the only decision, quickly. And if he doesn’t, we are not going anywhere until someone does.