New York City’s Department of Investigation is bringing in outside legal help to scrutinize what four mayoral administrations knew about toxic air at Ground Zero.
The agency has tapped Epstein Becker & Green to assist its probe into the handling of environmental hazards from the September 11, 2001 attacks, covering the tenures of Rudy Giuliani, Mike Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams, according to a procurement notice. The investigation was mandated by a City Council resolution passed in July 2025, with $3.81 million allocated across two years for the fact-finding effort.
“Services will include conducting an investigation to ascertain the knowledge possessed by mayoral administrations on environmental toxins produced by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and to submit a report to the Council thereon,” the DOI wrote in its notice about the negotiated contract.
Giuliani led the city on the day of the attacks and for three months afterward, while Bloomberg guided New York through the lengthy reconstruction period that followed. The de Blasio and Adams administrations later became custodians of records now subject to examination.
The probe’s launch follows a major document release by the current administration. Just before the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the Mamdani administration made nearly 170,000 pages of records public through an online portal, including an October 2001 memo revealing city officials were aware of potential health risks at the World Trade Center site.
Michael Barasch, whose firm Barasch & McGarry represents 50,000 people enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, cast doubt on whether the investigation would unleash a wave of litigation against the city. He pointed to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s September 18, 2001 declaration that the air was safe, which he said offered legal protection.
“I don’t think Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg knew the air was unsafe. They went back to work,” Barasch said.
“I don’t think the mayors knew — but the [city] Law Department knew. Why did they hide the information that the air was unsafe?” he continued.
Barasch said the concealment stretched across all four administrations now under review. He noted that he personally returned to his downtown office after authorities gave the all-clear on air quality, putting himself among those potentially exposed.
Environmental advocates have spent decades arguing that city officials deliberately downplayed toxic air risks in the aftermath of the attacks, leaving first responders, recovery workers and downtown residents vulnerable to illnesses that would emerge in staggering numbers. The newly released records, including the October 2001 memo, have amplified those accusations by showing officials possessed early warnings they did not share with the public.
Barasch praised the current administration’s decision to open the archives.
The investigation arrives as 9/11-related illnesses continue to claim lives and overwhelm medical programs, with patients and their families demanding accountability for decisions made in the attacks’ chaotic aftermath. The DOI’s final report will go to the City Council, which ordered the probe amid mounting pressure for transparency.
