The United States Environmental Protection Agency rejected most of New York's $511 million loan request to support the state's construction of a new Tappan Zee Bridge.
In a letter to the New York Thruway Authority Sept. 16, Joan Matthews, director of the EPA's clean water division for Region 2, said that the EPA would approve $29.1 million of loans for five of the proposed bridge projects and reject $481.8 million in loans for seven of the bridge projects. Region 2 includes New York.
The Thruway Authority has already started work on the bridge, which crosses the Hudson River about 15 miles north of New York City.
The Clean Water Act authorizes use of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to develop and implement conservation plans under a part of the Clean Water Act focused on protecting estuaries, Matthews said. The supported actions must focus on improving water quality and biological health of the estuary. The Clean Water State Revolving Fund helps primarily through offering low-interest loans.
"The focus of corrective actions and compliance schedules in a conservation and management plan is, therefore, water quality-based and not for the mitigation of impacts directly caused by major construction projects - such as the replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge - within an estuary," Matthews said.
The authority has 30 days to appeal the EPA decision.
In late October 2013 the U.S. Department of Transportation approved a $1.6 billion TIFIA loan for the authority's bridge project. The authority has yet to approve a financial plan for the bridge.
