NYC concerned about lawsuits after release of post-9/11 memos about toxic air at

New York City will release a treasure trove of memos about what the city knew about the toxic air at the World Trade Center site — only if federal lawmakers can help protect the city from lawsuits after the documents are made public, the Daily News has learned.

City attorneys met with Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Carolyn Maloney’s (D-N.Y.) staffers earlier this month, at the invitation of Mayor Adams, to talk about releasing the secret 9/11-related documents that have been under lock and key since planes destroyed the twin towers, congressional sources said.

The municipal attorneys said they might release the undisclosed material, but only if the lawmakers met three eyebrow-raising demands: Let the city keep $300 million remaining in a federally funded litigation account, fund a new lawsuit protection plan, and pass a federal law shielding the city from any further responsibility, the sources said.

[ NYC Mayor Adams to work with Reps. Maloney, Nadler about what City Hall knew about Ground Zero toxic air after 9/11 ]

The mayor’s office confirmed the broad outlines of what was said at the meeting, and that the city is concerned it could face liability.

Neither Nadler nor Maloney were willing to discuss what occurred behind closed doors.

But Maloney repeated her argument for pulling back the veil of secrecy surrounding the horror, heroism, and still-hidden failings that unfolded around the terrorism that reshaped New York and the nation.

“It has been almost 21 years since these attacks, and people deserve the truth about what the city knew in the aftermath,” Maloney said. “I hope that Mayor Adams, a 9/11 responder himself, will overrule his lawyers and let this critical information come to light for all that have been affected since that tragic day.”

[ Never forget: 9/11 families gather once more at Ground Zero for 20th anniversary of terrorist attacks ]

Some 2,753 people, including first responders and downtown workers, died on Sept. 11, 2001, with thousands more getting sick and dying — a sobering reminder that the toxic dust that clouded the air and filled the survivors’ lungs is still wreaking havoc.

More than 112,00 people are enrolled in the federally-run World Trade Center Health Program. Tens of thousands have been diagnosed with various cancers, and respiratory disorders like asthma, COPD and post-traumatic stress disorder.

According to Andrew Carboy, a private attorney as well as other lawyers involved with Sept. 11 litigation, the city never turned over paperwork in what’s known as a privilege log that details all the items a defendant believes are exempt from disclosure.

Carboy claims the city would not turn over detailed plans drawn up — and never carried out — to prepare the Fire Department to respond to a skyscraper collapse with respirator masks. He also remembers a news report about a memo that was not disclosed. It warned of 10,000 New Yorkers getting ill from exposure.

“It causes people who follow the…