PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Andrew Carboy, Attorney for 911 Health Watch
1:23:30
ยท
4 min
Andrew Carboy, an attorney representing 911 Health Watch, testified about their efforts to obtain information regarding the city's knowledge of toxic substances released during the 9/11 attacks. He emphasized the ongoing health impacts on first responders and residents, and criticized the city's denial of their Freedom of Information Law requests.
- Carboy highlighted the gap between the city's messaging about air quality safety and the actual test results they were receiving.
- He called for the city's September 11th archives to be opened, describing the basis for denying their requests as "laughable" and "absurd".
- The testimony underscored the importance of transparency in understanding the health consequences of 9/11 exposures.
Andrew Carboy
1:23:30
Brewer.
1:23:30
And good morning, council.
1:23:36
Good morning again, chair Brewer and council member Williams.
1:23:39
Thank you for having us here today.
1:23:41
My name is Andrew Carboy.
1:23:43
I'm an attorney, and along with my colleague, Matthew McAuley, we are pro bono counsel for 911 HealthWatch, a not for profit World Trade Center Health Advocacy Organization, and a group of September 11th first responders, residents of lower Manhattan, and surviving family members of those lost because of World Trade Center exposure related disease.
1:24:10
On their behalf, in 2023, we filed a freedom of information law request pursuant to New York State's freedom of information law.
1:24:22
Our clients seek no compensation.
1:24:26
As their attorneys, we seek no legal fees.
1:24:30
The shared goal that we have is strictly to find out what the city knew concerning the dangers of toxic substances released as a result of the terrorist attacks and when the city learned of those dangers.
1:24:48
We are here because September 11th continues to make people sick, be they first responders, recovery and utility workers who met the call in those awful, awful times, or simply public school students and residents of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.
1:25:07
New Yorkers live with the consequences of dust plumes, fires, and smoke that choked our city for months.
1:25:16
Our request to the mayor's office and city agencies are simple.
1:25:20
We seek answers.
1:25:22
What did the city know about air quality, and when did it learn it?
1:25:28
Why the rush to reopen our public schools just blocks away from the burning debris and fires that raged on for months through early December 2001?
1:25:40
What what explains the gap between the city's messaging that the air quality was safe and it was safe to return to lower Manhattan as opposed to the air quality test the city was receiving in real time from its own sources, including utilities that did private testing.
1:26:02
Where are those air quality test results today?
1:26:06
Well, we pose these questions by filing our Freedom of Information Act request with the mayor's office, the Office of Emergency Management, and the Department of Environmental Protection.
1:26:19
In denying our clients' requests and denying the similar requests made earlier by the New York City congressional delegation, representatives Nadler, Maloney, and Goldman, the city denies the most significant day in its history.
1:26:38
The city's September 11th archives must be thrown open today.
1:26:44
The basis of the city's denial to our request are laughable.
1:26:48
They are absurd, and I'm gonna share them with the assembled members here today.
1:26:53
We cannot believe that records concerning that terrible event created in the days weeks after September 11th were destroyed on September You
Gale A. Brewer
1:27:03
need to start to wrap up if you can.
James Brosi
1:27:05
I'm sorry?
Gale A. Brewer
1:27:05
Start to wrap up if you can.
Andrew Carboy
1:27:07
Yes.
1:27:07
I can.
1:27:08
And we don't accept that the city's DEP, the city's lead agency in air quality has none of the requested records.
1:27:14
These records simply do not vanish from the archives.
1:27:19
Because the city is denying more than that history.
1:27:21
It's denying the legacy, the health effects of these terrible exposures.
1:27:27
Men and women today live with the consequences each day of that terrible morning.
1:27:33
Listen.
1:27:33
For all we know, the city didn't genuinely appreciate the consequences of the collapse, but perhaps it did.
1:27:40
We're never gonna find out the answers to those questions unless we obtain these documents.
Gale A. Brewer
1:27:45
Thank thank you very much.
Andrew Carboy
1:27:46
Thank you.
Gale A. Brewer
1:27:47
Who would like to go next?