EPA Disqualifies Controversial Tappan Zee Loan

In a stunning rebuke to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the federal Environmental Protection Agency disqualified a loan to the Tappan Zee Bridge, one of the Cuomo Administration's signature projects.

New York had originally sought to borrow $511 million for the bridge from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which is federal money administered by the state's Environmental Facilities Corporation and the Department of Environmental Conservation. The state had tried to make the case that the money would be used to protect and enhance the Hudson River environment over the course of the construction of the new Tappan Zee Bridge. But even before a state panel voted to approve the loan in August, the regional administrator for the EPA raised red flags about the project, calling the loan "unconventional" and asking for further scrutiny.

Now, that scrutiny has come in the form of a letter to the heads of the state DEC and the EFC, dinging most of the loan.

According to the EPA, the state can use $29.1 million in CWSRF funds for the bridge. But the lion's share of the loan — $481 million — was struck down.

"Construction activities arising from transportation projects do not advance water quality, and CWSRF funding should not be used for these purposes," reads the letter from Joan Leary Matthews, a regional director of the EPA. She goes on to call the state's request to use clean water funds for the bridge “unprecedented,” and says no other state has made a request “of this type or magnitude.”

Governor Cuomo sought to downplay the impact of the EPA's decision — while stating he'd appeal it. "The bridge construction was never dependent on this loan in the first place," he said Tuesday. Jon Sorensen, a spokesman for the New York State EFC, said "the projects identified here will clearly provide significant benefits for the Hudson River Estuary. EPA Region II is simply wrong in its assessment."

Environmental groups, which had been crying foul for months about the loan, were delighted by the EPA's decision.

"Riverkeeper said this loan wouldn’t pass federal review," said Paul Gallay, the group's president, "and sure enough the EPA has struck almost all of it down. Good for them. Now, the state needs to take the half billion dollars it tried to loan to itself for the bridge and spend it properly."

Gallay added: "If the state appeals this determination, we’ll go to court."

Peter Iwanowicz, the head of the Environmental Advocates of New York, praised the EPA. “The Cuomo Administration’s attempt to raid federal Clean Water Act funds to pay for bridge construction was appropriately rejected," he said in a statement. " We applaud the EPA for undertaking a very deliberative review and rightfully determining – despite intense pressure – that Clean Water Act funds cannot pay for construction of the New New York Bridge."

Read the letter from the EPA to New York State below.