U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has called on FEMA to cut the bureaucracy, and let PSEG Long Island install permanent power to a rebuilt sewage treatment plant knocked offline by Superstorm Sandy.
The Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant in East Rockaway was severely damaged during Sandy, sending sewage into the Western Bays of Nassau County. At the time, Schumer arranged for generators to power the plant.
Over five years later, it is still being powered by generators.
Schumer says all that is necessary is for FEMA to sign off on the installation of power. “We don’t need more money, we don’t need legislation, we just need FEMA to sign on the dotted line.”
Schumer says getting the plant on feeders from PSEG would ensure it would not fail, but, “Without swift approval of the power plan, the plant here could fail, water treatment could suffer, and the Western Bays resiliency plan, which tackles nitrogen levels, would derail. So we can’t let that happen.”
Schumer says since the legislation has passed and the money distributed, all that is needed is a signature to allow the feeders to be installed.
