Staten Island, NYC officials demand a ‘fair share’ of EPA funding for storm infrastructure

New York City is at a disadvantage when it comes to New York State’s funding distribution policies, according to Mayor Eric Adams.

Adams responded on Wednesday to a letter from several Staten Island elected officials in which they urged him to apply for grant funding recently announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to upgrade New York City’s essential water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure.

“Unfortunately, arbitrary limits set by the state prevent New York City from receiving our fair share of funding regardless of our efforts,” Adams wrote in his response letter.

The EPA announced last month that New York State will be receiving $2.56 million in funding through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to help underserved communities improve their water infrastructure. This capital, in the form of grants and principal forgiveness loans, is in addition to the $207 million that New York received in October 2022, also through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund.

The mayor explained that the new funding through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) will be administered by New York State’s Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC), which presents two obstacles to the city getting its “fair share.”

“First, EFC typically focus the most valuable funding (grants and interest-free financing) to communities it designates as ‘economically disadvantaged.’ The SRF hardship policy states that only municipalities with fewer than 300,000 people can be considered economically disadvantaged. As a result, when the SRF’s hardship policy is applied, New York City is ineligible, despite the fact that it contains 59% of the state’s designated disadvantaged communities,” Adams said.

He noted that EFC made an exception for lead service line funding, but “there is no indication that there will be additional exceptions, as the 300,000 resident limit is still standard policy.”

The second barrier, Adams said, is a cap on how much funding is allocated to each municipality.

“Several state programs, such as the Clean Water Infrastructure Act, placed legislative caps – enacted by the New York State Legislature – that discriminate against New York City and other large municipalities by placing a $10 million dollar cap per municipality, regardless of the size. ... As a result, in most cases, New York City – despite being 44% of the state’s population – is limited to less than 10% of any pot of funding distributed under these rules,” he explained.

The mayor referred to the city applying for funding from the State Water Infrastructure Improvement Act last year as an example.

“New York City applied for funding for six projects, which would have been eligible for a total of more than $110 million. However, because of the various per-municipality rules, the city only received $6.5 for one project (spread over two year), out of a total $279 million that was announced by the state on Nov. 4, 2022,” Adams said, noting one such project that wasn’t accepted was reconstruction of the Victory Boulevard Pump Station on Staten Island.

ADVOCATING FOR NYC

The mayor emphasized that he and his administration are working tirelessly to exhaust all possible funding options available to the city – at federal and state level – particularly for wastewater and flood prevention related infrastructure.

“My administration is focused on maximizing the funding out of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and other federal funding streams. I have established a New York City Federal Infrastructure Funding Task Force dedicated to this goal,” he said.

Adams expressed his support for the officials and their advocacy and invited them to continue to collaborate in accessing more funding for the city.

“I hope we can work together to convince New York State to allow this spending to benefit our community, which is both equitable and in line with Congressional intent. ... We ask for your continued support now, as we advocate for New York City to be able to get its fair share of the funding you have fought for,” he wrote.

The mayor outlined some of the work required as follows:

• Advocating to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ensure New York City is eligible for its fair share of funding;
• Amending State laws to eliminate per-municipality caps that lead to wide disparities in per-capita access to State funding;
• Advocating to the State to ensure that funding is distributed fairly across the State.

S.I. POLS REACT

Three of the elected officials – covering all three levels of government – signed the letter to the mayor reacting to Adam’s response in consensus that their sights are set on the state to ensure New York City is getting a fair share of funding.

Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn), who initiated the group’s letter, said in a statement:

“It’s disheartening to learn from the city that the state is placing an unfair cap on the amount of money municipalities can receive at $10 million, which means New York City will receive less than 10% of the pot despite accounting for 44% of the state’s population. I will be working with my colleagues at the state level to push the Hochul Administration to review this policy so we can receive our fair share of funding.”

State Assembly Assistant Majority Leader Charles Fall (D-North Shore) emphasized the importance of the funding for water and flood-prevention infrastructure.

“Improving our city’s essential water, wastewater and storm infrastructure is crucial in preventing and recovering from future environmental crises. The grants provided by the EPA through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law should be used expeditiously in order to make adequate and necessary upgrades to our infrastructure,” Fall said.

“I want to thank Mayor Adams and his administration for his support and advocacy on this matter. Along with my colleagues, I am committed to making sure there is no roadblocks and arbitrary limits from the State in order for New York City to get its fair share of funding,” he added.

City Council Member David Carr (R-Mid Island) also spoke to the urgency of updating the city’s storm resilience and flood prevention infrastructure.

“The city has been making great progress through the years post-Sandy with upgrades to storm sewers, coastal resiliency projects and to our bluebelts,” Carr said in a statement. “However, [Hurricane] Ida made clear that we need to do more, and the State needs to step up in order for Staten Island to receive its fair share of storm protection. I’m thankful for Rep. Malliotakis’ leadership on this issue.”