The New York Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) board voted 5-0 on Thursday to provide the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) with $511.45 million in low- and no-interest loans  from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) — a fund traditionally used to upgrade sewers across the state.

The vote was fast-tracked and fraught with controversy, as advocacy groups scrambled to get more information on a slew of unanswered questions, and the public was completely shut out of the process. Although EFC general counsel Jim Levine stated at the meeting that there has been a tremendous amount of work and due diligence done on this loan proposal, the public was only notified less than two weeks earlier, on June 11. The statutory requirement for public comment was completely avoided by labeling these loans “a minor modification” to the CWSRF’s Intended Use Plan.

Yesterday’s action, coupled with a still unreleased financial plan for the new Tappan Zee Bridge and continued refusal to provide documents under FOIL and FOIA, is another example of the lack of transparency surrounding the New NY Bridge funding process, most prominently highlighted by the unwillingness of Governor Andrew Cuomo to form the toll and financial panel charged with identifying funding mechanisms to pay for the bridge.

To make the EFC’s decision final, these loans need to be approved by the NYSTA Board and the Public Authorities Control Board, the latter requiring a unanimous vote. All eyes will be on Senator John DeFrancisco and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver who both sit on the PACB. EFC general counsel Jim Levine claimed that approval is not needed from the EPA, though that claim has not been independently confirmed. Either way, the current trajectory will provide no opportunity for public comment.

Smart growth development — which entails mixed-use, densely-populated communities around Main Streets and downtowns where public transit, walking and biking are dominant modes of transport — cannot happen without properly functioning sewers and clean water. Currently, 60 percent of New York’s municipalities have problems with their sewers, and it is estimated that over the next 20 years, the state will need to invest $36 billion to upgrade clean water and wastewater treatment facilities. These municipalities should not be tasked with subsidizing the New NY Bridge Project.

In order to build a more sustainable future, the NYSTA and the Public Authorities Control Board, and particularly Speaker Silver and Senator DeFrancisco, must reject the dubious claim that these sewer funds can be misappropriated to build the New NY Bridge.