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Partly Cloudy Sewage plant plan sparks residents’ ire
Civic coalition forms to fight county’s proposed privatization
Several South Shore civic and elected leaders have banded together to decry a proposal by Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano to sell or lease three of the county’s sewage treatment plants to a private company.
Mangano’s plan calls for the sale of the Glen Cove Sewage Plant, the Cedar Creek Sewage Plant in Wantagh and the Bay Park Sewage Plant for roughly $1 billion. The plants could also be leased.
County Legislator Dave Denenberg, a Democrat from Merrick, is calling on state officials to investigate the legality of the proposed privatization proposal, and civic associations have joined together to form the Nassau County Coalition of Civic Associations to combat the plan.
Claudia Borecky, president of the North and Central Merrick Civic Association, spearheaded formation of the civic coalition. She said the plan would net $1.3 billion to balance the 2012 and 2013 county budgets. But the proposal has drawn sharp criticism from residents and elected leaders who argue that county officials have not been transparent about privatization plans, and they say the plan could wind up costing Nassau residents more in sewage fees than they’re paying now.
Others, though, say that consideration should be given to selling off the plants, given their poor state. In the fall of 2010, when the Bay Park plant was cited for numerous violations by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, officials discovered that the plant had for months been releasing partially treated sewage in greater concentrations than allowed by environmental law. County officials attributed the problem to malfunctioning equipment at the plant.
The County Legislature later unanimously approved four contracts totaling $3.4 million for upgrades at Bay Park. But a number of residents say the county’s plants remain in disrepair. Privatization, they say, could help bring the plants into compliance with health and environmental standards, but they want more information about the county’s plans.
Residents, politicians sound off on plan
