Environmentalists urged the New York Assembly at a hearing Friday to approve $5 billion bonding for upgrades and repairs to water and sewage systems, flood control projects and curbing air pollution.
Bills recently introduced in the state Senate and Assembly would authorize that borrowing, subject to voter approval in November 2014. A 2008 state report showed $70 billion would be needed over 20 years for municipal sewage treatment and drinking water projects statewide.
“Demand continues to outpace annual state appropriations for environmental spending,” said Sean Mahar, director of government relations for Audubon New York. “Many of these treatment systems are now exceeding their designed life, discharging billions of gallons of raw, untreated sewage into New York’s waterways.”
Overflows of combined storm water and human waste from municipal sewer plants occur often after heavy rains into big rivers like the Hudson, Mohawk and Niagara, as well as smaller tributaries and other waterways.
At Friday’s hearing, the Nature Conservancy said the state’s last environmental bond act, passed in 1996 for $1.75 billion, has been spent or committed. While the state also created the Environmental Protection Fund 20 years ago to supplement regular conservation spending, it was reduced in the economic recession, and there’s a backlog of projects though spending has increased to $153 million this year.
Anne Reynolds, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, said after the hearing they have not yet evaluated the bond proposal, which has few details at this point. Another state study on infrastructure needs, based on 2012, is expected soon and unlikely to be lower than the last one. The DEC’s assessment of needed sewage system repairs, upgrades and new compliance measures in 2008 was $36 billion, she said.
Noting the state already has $135 billion in debt, the fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy has criticized the bond proposal as unspecific and excessive. “It’s gigantic and it’s more than is called for on the face of it,” said analyst E.J. McMahon. He said it consists of three big pots of money and much of the long-term cost estimate is concentrated in New York City.
The legislation was proposed by Sen. Mark Grisanti and Assemblyman Robert Sweeney, who chair the Legislature’s two environmental conservation committees.
It calls for spending up to $2 billion to protect waster sheds, including drinking water supplies and flood control projects; $2 billion for wastewater and drinking water system repairs and updates; and $1 billion for improving air quality and environmental health including pollution prevention, greenways and community gardens.
The state Environmental Facilities Corp., which has a revolving fund, says it has provided more than $15 billion in low-cost financing and grants for over 2,000 water and sewer infrastructure projects statewide since 1990. Last month, it invited bids by nonprofits, conservation districts and municipalities on $45 million in grants for projects that improve water quality, reduce polluted runoff, and restore habitat in New York waterways.
©2013 Newsday
You may also like
The good, the bad and the ugly in Cuomo’s budget
“We are at the early stages of what shapes up as the biggest state and city fiscal crisis since the Great Depression,” said E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center. “Borrowing and short-term cuts aside, the budget doesn’t chart any clear path out of it.” Read More
Medicaid cuts make the state budget, with some tweaks
Bill Hammond, director of health policy at the conservative-leaning think tank the Empire Center, suggested this is because the proposed cuts are meant to slow the otherwise rapid growth in Medicaid spending, which means an increase is still possible. Read More
Gov. Cuomo’s Lawsuit on Pres. Trump’s Tax Cuts Dismissed
But according to the Empire Center, a non-profit group based in Albany, the overall impact of the Trump tax cuts actually benefited most state residents. Read More
EDITORIAL: State schools continue spending more for less
As reported by the Empire Center last week, “The number of students enrolled in New York state public schools is the lowest recorded in 30 years.”
Since 2000, enrollment in public schools has declined by more than 10 percent statewide with most of it upstate as enrollment in New York City schools has increased 1.3 percent in the last 10 years. Students are not leaving to go to private or parochial schools either because they, too, are showing declines, down about 8 percent in the last decade. Read More
$1 billion semiconductor plant: ‘Flashy mega-project’ or ‘transformational investment’ for New York?
"The state is continuing its strategy of pursuing flashy mega-projects instead of making New York more attractive for all businesses. We're now in the second decade of this approach, and it's still failing to deliver the promised results," Girardin said. "This is the sort of economic development strategy that politicians turn to when they don't want to take on the tougher questions." Read More
Cuomo blames lawmakers for plate fee set by his administration
The new replacement policy, which was tucked into a press release announcing new plate designs, has been criticized as a "revenue enhancer wrapped in a public relations ploy" by E.J. McMahon of the fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
New York license plate fee increase draws criticism
"The 'current' $25 fee was for an optional plate choice," said E.J. McMahon, research director at the Empire Center for Public Policy. "The new fee will be mandatory -- the first time ever. This is a revenue grab under the guise of a PR stunt. Yes, the plates need replacement. But they don’t cost $25 apiece to manufacture." Read More
Medicaid bungle cost state $102 million over 4 years
“A little series of mistakes in a program this big can add up to a lot of money in a hurry,” Hammond told The Post. “A quarter of a million dollars is a lot of money. It’s important that the auditors are looking at this and are pointing to things that could be fixed.” Read More