TRENTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation has granted New Jersey a two-week extension to repay the $271 million it on the trans-Hudson commuter rail tunnel before Gov. Chris Christie killed the project in October. The extension — from Friday until Jan. 11 — was granted in a letter from the DOT to the lawyers the state hired to...
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood testifies at a hearing on Capitol Hill.TRENTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation has granted New Jersey a two-week extension to repay the $271 million it on the trans-Hudson commuter rail tunnel before Gov. Chris Christie killed the project in October.
The extension — from Friday until Jan. 11 — was granted in a letter from the DOT to the lawyers the state hired to fight the government’s demand that the money be repaid. It comes about a week after the government revised its original demand and essentially cut in half the amount owed, though state officials declined to link the extension to the revised demand.
Christie called the revised demand "a good start," but said Tuesday he was still waiting for Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to notify him of it directly; the revised demand was announced by New Jersey’s two U.S. senators, Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez.
"They have made that offer to senators Lautenberg and Menendez, who through the Constitution of New Jersey are not empowered to make that decision," Christie said. "When Secretary LaHood decides he wants to call me and make that offer we’ll have a conversation. To this point, I haven’t gotten a call from the secretary and I know he’s got my number because during the whole ARC thing he was calling me at home."
The extension is the latest development in the ongoing saga of the Access to the Regions Corps, or ARC tunnel project approved under Christie’s predecessor, Democratic Gov. John Corzine. The project was hailed by environmentalists and others as a means of cutting pollution and congestion by doubling NJ Transit’s commuter rail capacity into New York.
But Christie killed the project, citing projections that the final cost would be billions higher than the initial $8.7 billion estimate, with New Jersey liable for any overruns beyond its initial $2.7 billion commitment.
By that time, the state had spent $271 million in federal funds, prompting LaHood to accuse the state of breaking a deal with the federal government to finish the project, and to demand that the state repay the spent funds.
LaHood has said that if New Jersey repays the $271 million, it will receive a $128 million credit that will be used for future transportation projects.
The letter approving the deadline extension was signed by Robert J. Tuccillo, chief financial officer for the transportation department’s Office of Budget and Policy and addressed to Robert Brams and Michael J. Shaengold, lawyers at Patton Boggs, the Washington, D.C., firm hired by the state.
"I am in receipt of your request for an extension of time to respond. I am hereby extending the deadline," the letter said.
Brams declined to comment, and instead referred questions to the governor’s spokesman, Michael Drewniak, who also declined to comment. LaHood’s office also declined to comment.