New Jersey not paying back feds for Hudson tunnel funding, Christie says

New Jersey won’t be refunding the $271 million in federal funding it already spent on the canceled Hudson River rail tunnel to New York City, Gov. Chris Christie told listeners during his “Ask the Governor” radio segment last night on New Jersey’s 101.5. Christie jettisoned the $9.8 billion project — a 9-mile tunnel between Secaucus and West 34th Street known as Access to the Region’s Core that would have doubled the rail capacity between New York City and New Jersey — in October, citing potential cost overruns. The state had received a bill from the Federal Transit Administration, for which its deadline to respond was yesterday. The FTA had said that the state could receive another $128 million in clean-air project funding if the repayment was made; if not, it would be charged interest on the debt. “We are not paying the money back,” Christie said, and a spokesperson confirmed that a formal appeal to the FTA would be filed by midnight. [Star-Ledger]