Congressman Lee Zeldin (R, NY-1) applauded the beginning of construction of the Forge River Sewer Project. In January, Congressman Zeldin joined Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, state and local officials, labor leaders, environmental stakeholders and residents at the Mastic Fire Department Substation to mark the groundbreaking of this long awaited infrastructure improvement.
“As someone who grew up and still lives in this great Suffolk County community, I can personally attest to the fact that the Forge River Sewer Project is critical to our quality of life. Dating back to my time in the New York State Senate, it’s been a long and hard-fought journey to reach this latest milestone,” said Congressman Zeldin. “I was honored to do my part to save this project with legislation I got passed by Congress and signed into law in December 2020. This project is a product of all levels of government working together across party lines to get this done.”
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic put Forge River, along with two other local sewer projects, in serious danger of not meeting their original deadlines for all the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds to be spent.
Working closely with the White House and congressional leadership, Congressman Zeldin had language included in December 2020 government funding legislation to extend the deadline for the use of these CDBG-DR funds. The project could not be completed without this necessary federal action.
