Fresh Kills Was the Second Ground Zero. Staten Island Is Still Being Left Out of 9/11 Compensation.
In July 2026, a NYC Department of Health report put Staten Island at the top of the city's cancer mortality rankings, again. A few days later, the Staten Island Advance asked why the island has never gotten a comprehensive cancer study. It's a conversation Staten Island has been having with itself for a generation. This post is about why, and about the one place on the Island where federal law already drew a line: workers who handled 9/11 debris at Fresh Kills can access the WTC Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF). The people who worked and lived beside there cannot.