NYC Environmental Agency Convicted of Federal Crimes Weeks Before 9/11

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was convicted of federal environmental crimes, including a felony, just weeks before the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, according to newly revealed documents. The information emerged from a trove of 170,000 9/11-related city records released by the administration of Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The documents include court filings from the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office detailing the DEP's conviction in August 2001. The agency pleaded guilty to two environmental crimes for actions that occurred prior to the 9/11 attacks. One charge involved discharging mercury-contaminated water into a tributary of an upstate New York reservoir that supplied the city’s drinking water, a violation of the Clean Water Act that took place in 1998. The DEP also pleaded guilty to violating the Toxic Substances Control Act for the unauthorized use of PCB-contaminated machinery at a water supply facility in Westchester County.

Under then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the DEP received probation for these offenses. The terms included implementing an environmental and worker health and safety compliance program and submitting to oversight by a court-appointed monitor for an eight-year period. The agency was also prohibited from committing any further federal, state, or local crimes during its probation.

However, in February 2006, the US Attorney’s Office announced that the DEP had violated its probation. Prosecutors stated that the agency failed to properly maintain the emergency electrical system at the Red Hook Water Pollution Control Plant in Brooklyn. This failure led to the plant discharging approximately 30 million gallons of untreated sewage into the East River during the August 2003 blackout.

Andrew Carboy, a lawyer for the advocacy group 911 Health Watch, which sued to obtain the documents, called the DEP's conviction "deeply disturbing," especially given that the agency was responsible for the city's air quality response following the 9/11 attacks. He noted the agency's prior conviction for a crime related to its core function and the fact that the DEP had reportedly contested the release of these records.

On December 23, 2009, the US Attorney’s Office, then led by Preet Bharara, informed the court that the DEP had made sufficient improvements to its compliance program, effectively ending its probation.

A spokesperson for the DEP stated that the agency pleaded guilty to a Clean Water Act violation from 1998 and fulfilled its probation terms by December 2009. The spokesperson added that the agency has since strengthened its environmental, health, and safety compliance programs to protect its workforce and the city it serves.