Tappan Zee Bridge: $511 million loan moves to next stage
ALBANY – A state board on Thursday authorized a $511 million loan to finance projects associated with replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge, but a pair of key lawmakers could soon have a chance to scuttle the controversial plan.
The state Environmental Facilities Corp.'s Board of Directors voted unanimously Thursday to approve the massive loan to the Thruway Authority, which would be used to dismantle the current bridge and dredge the Hudson River, among other environmental improvements related to the $3.9 billion bridge replacement.
But the state Public Authorities Control Board still has to authorize the loan before it can be executed. State law requires unanimous approval from the board's three voting members, meaning either Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, or Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, could block the loan on their own.
Neither DeFrancisco nor Silver has taken a position on the loan, but DeFrancisco has raised concerns about the project and Thursday said he's skeptical of how the state plans to pay for the new bridge. The state hasn't detailed the toll structure for the new bridge.
"To make an intelligent decision, you have to know the whole financing plan and there's no answer really given as to how to finance the rest of the Tappan Zee Bridge," DeFrancisco said. "I think this is an opportunity to raise that question: What's the total plan, and does this piece make sense as part of the total plan?"
The loan to the Thruway Authority, which owns the bridge connecting Westchester and Rockland counties across the Hudson River, would come from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. The largely federally backed fund has traditionally been used to finance municipal sewer upgrades.
Environmental groups have criticized the plan, arguing the state isn't using the money for its intended use. The state Environmental Facilities Corp. has fired back, saying the loan complies with federal Clean Water Act because it will be used to improve the environment in the Hudson River, a national estuary.
On Wednesday, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 Administrator Judith Enck questioned whether the state was properly using the loan fund.
State Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens, who also serves as chairman of the Environmental Facilities Corp., said the state has extensively studied the issue and believes the loan complies with federal law.
"Obviously, the board and staff did an extraordinary amount of due diligence to make sure that all of the projects are in fact eligible for Clean Water Act funding," Martens told reporters Thursday. "There was a lot of legal due diligence. We looked at every project individually."
The state Thruway Authority's board will have to formally approve the loan before it's sent to the Public Authorities Control Board, which is next scheduled to meet July 15. The Thruway Authority's next board meeting has not been scheduled.
A spokesman for Silver said his office would review the loan.
Assemblyman James Brennan, D-Brooklyn, who heads the Assembly's Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, said there were "legitimate" public concerns about how high tolls would go on the new bridge and it was "completely inappropriate" to draw down on the federal funds to pay for the project.
"It should not be indirectly subsidized by money intended for municipal wastewater treatment," Brennan said Thursday.
Paul Gallay, president of Riverkeeper, said it was "premature" to discuss whether environmental groups would sue over the loan. He said he was hopeful the Public Authorities Control Board would not ultimately authorize it.
"The fact that they're taking (from a) Clean Water Act fund that has never been used in this way and going through all these somersaults to try to justify it clearly shows that they are desperate for funding for the Tappan Zee Bridge," Gallay said.
Jon Campbell: JCAMPBELL1@gannett.com; Twitter.com/JonCampbellGAN.
Includes reporting by The Journal News staff writer Khurram Saeed.