NJ Gets Another $14 Million For Sandy Relief

The Garden State is set to receive three federal grants totaling more than $14 million to support water infrastructure facilities that were damaged in New Jersey by super-storm Sandy.

The funding, through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), will support recovery efforts conducted by the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and the Middlesex County Utilities Authority.

U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Vice Chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds FEMA says, “Clean, quality drinking water is critical to our public health, and we will keep working to make sure New Jersey's water infrastructure is repaired and modernized so that it can withstand the next storm. These grants are a start, but we won't have a full recovery until the House passes a strong disaster aid bill for Sandy victims like the one that we passed in the Senate.” 

“Superstorm Sandy wrought havoc on New Jersey’s water infrastructure, disrupting delivery of drinking water as well as treatment of waste water, and the storm created dangerous situations with scattered debris,” says U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ). “In the wake of the House Republicans’ failure to vote on bipartisan Sandy relief legislation, these federal reimbursements are even more vital to our recovery. I will continue to fight for federal resources, including a robust Sandy relief package, to help New Jersey’s public entities come back stronger than they were before the storm.”

In December, the Senate passed a bipartisan $60.4 billion emergency supplemental appropriations bill in response to Sandy which would have provided $810 million to repair and improve water infrastructure, including New Jersey water treatment plants.

The House of Representatives had planned to vote on a Sandy disaster bill, but House Republican leadership delayed the vote. The Senate-passed legislation includes federal resources to help residents, homeowners, businesses, and local governments recover and rebuild, improve New Jersey’s beaches and transit system, and repair roads, bridges, and infrastructure. Lautenberg and Menendez say they will be working to pass the overdue legislation as soon as possible in the new session of Congress.