With the start of the release of hidden World Trade Center 9/11 documents held by New York City, we can begin to understand the critical questions of who knew what and when about the environmental health disaster released when the twin towers fell and the soaring plume of white dust rose, covering Downtown.

Mayor Mamdani and the city’s top lawyer, Corporation Counsel Steve Banks, were correct to stop the city’s resistance and finally publish the records, which should be complete within a year.

The killer was that plume, filled with pulverized concrete, 425,000 cubic yards crushed to an inhalable powder, a highly alkaline and caustic substance with a pH akin to lye. That, along with other dangers, like asbestos and benzene, attacked delicate body tissues, and produced illness and death and now perhaps three times as many people have perished from the 9/11 toxic fallout than the 2,700........

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