Feds challenge Cuomo’s accounting of Tappan Zee loan

Scott Waldman

ALBANY—The state Environmental Facilities Corporation is embroiled in a dispute with the federal government over whether the state agency can loan more than a half-billion dollars to the Tappan Zee Bridge construction project.

The E.F.C. is scheduled to vote today on a $511 million low-interest loan from the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund to the New York State Thruway Authority for the bridge project.

But in a sharply worded letter sent Wednesday, an official from the federal Environmental Protection Agency cautioned the loan has not yet received federal approval.

The loan, half of which would carry no interest, was proposed by Governor Andrew Cuomo earlier this month and immediately came under fire from lawmakers and environmentalists as inappropriate, because the E.F.C. is supposed to supply funds to local governments and agencies for drinking water, wastewater infrastructure and other clean-water projects.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/06/8547952/feds-challenge-cuomos-accounting-tappan-zee-loan