The check is not in the mail

County and state officials are claiming that the Environmental Protection Agency owes Nassau County $20 million in grant money for upgrades the county made to the Cedar Creek and Bay Park sewage treatment plants in the mid-1980s.

Officials said that the grants, awarded under a now defunct EPA sewer infrastructure program, were supposed to reimburse the county for multi-million-dollar upgrades at the two plants — but while the work was completed, they said, reimbursement never came. County taxpayers paid for the work through increased sewer rates.

“The fact that $20 million has been withheld from Nassau County for 30 years is simply unacceptable, and it’s time for the EPA to pay up,” said U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, referring to the grant, which the EPA awarded to the county in 1984 — $7.5 million for the upgrade and expansion of the two plants, $12 million for architectural and engineering fees and $2 million for sewer piping. “It’s outrageous that these grants were never paid to the county,” Schumer added, “and it’s time for the EPA to reimburse Nassau County taxpayers so that they aren’t on the hook for future costs and repairs for the county’s sewer system.”

Schumer and Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano want the EPA to release the funds so that future projects can be funded without further increases in sewer rates. They noted that the $20 million could be used to complete a three-part upgrade of the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant that, it is hoped, would improve the quality of South Shore waterways, which have been blamed for odor, fish kills and other environmental issues in Bay Park.

According to John Senn, press officer for the EPA, in the 1970s and ’80s the agency gave grants directly to local entities to build plants and make major improvements to their wastewater treatment systems in order to meet federal Clean Water Act requirements. Some costs claimed by those entities are allowable under federal regulations, Senn noted, while others are not.

“In the case of the Cedar Creek grant given to Nassau County, the EPA has concluded that at least a portion of the costs claimed are not allowable,” Senn said.