O’Scanlon: Stop the Madness. No More Throwing Taxpayer Money in the Street
Senator Declan O’Scanlon
After seeing salt covering New Jersey roads today, despite the fact that temperature is not supposed to drop below 37 degrees Fahrenheit over the next few days, Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) said that “enough is enough” and demanded that the State put an end to the practice of unnecessary brining.
“It’s time for someone to challenge Governor Murphy’s assertion that this is a pennies per mile cost: it’s not. There was simply no way that a .17 per mile number was an accurate reflection of the cost to brine our roads when you account for labor, gas, and equipment. After speaking with a few of local officials we were able to confirm that the actual cost in totality is in excess of $12 or $13 per mile locally – and that is for areas that are more conservative with their usage of salt and brine,” O’Scanlon said.
“The administration has publicly stated that they use 65 gallons of brine per mile. It seems more likely that .17 is the cost per gallon of the brine materials alone. But with the amount of gallons the State is using, at that rate, it actually costs $11.05 per mile in materials alone, not .17 cents. That is a hugely misleading statement to our taxpayers, whether it was knowingly misleading or not. In fact, the overall total cost per mile with materials and labor is almost a 7,000 percent increase from what the Governor is on record as saying.
“There is no question that the State is over-brining the roads. People around New Jersey praise Monmouth County for managing and mobilizing their storm response the right way and being conservative with salt usage. Yet there have been at least a dozen times this winter so far that Monmouth County wasn’t brining roads, when the state was. There is obviously something wrong there.
“We can’t be out here making jokes about New Jersey being the ‘Brining Capital of America’ when we are continuing to add to our structural deficit with this cost. Last year, our winter weather response it cost us more than $100 million, and that was before we started this new policy of dumping resources every time the temperatures drop below 40 degrees.
“My goal is not to criticize the attempt to prepare. Obviously we should be preparing and responding to winter weather for the safety of our residents. But this level of waste isn’t preparation. When we mislead people about the rate at which the administration is setting taxpayer funds on fire by nearly 7,000 percent, that is not a joke. That is tragic.”
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“There is no question that the State is over-brining the roads. People around New Jersey praise Monmouth County for managing and mobilizing their storm response the right way and being conservative with salt usage. Yet there have been at least a dozen times this winter so far that Monmouth County wasn’t brining roads, when the state was. There is obviously something wrong there.
Love the sucking up to the Chair here after he spanked Senator Flip-Flop in public last month over the weed issue. Thanks for the gas tax increase, RINO.
Typical O’Scanlon – jumping on some bandwagon issue at the eleventh hour with no thought about the actual policy. Before railing against the craziness of ensuring the State’s roads aren’t covered with ice:
(1) Did the Senator check the NJDOT’s motor vehicle accident statistics or the number of inclement weather auto deaths since the new brining policy began?
(2) Did the Senator consider that brining the roads before the plows go over them provides an underlying layer of slush that flies off the road vs. ice, which takes chunks of the road with it when plowed?
Of course, “NO” to both of the above because Senator O’Scanlon is a bandwagon-driven, policy lightweight.
Did our Senator forget that he voted “YES” to a multi-billion dollar gas tax on all of us to replace and repair the very roadways he’s now complaining are being pre-treated with brine to prevent their wintertime deterioration?
Is Senator O’Scanlon a moron?
Oh nevermind, we get it. He just couldn’t help but jump on the shiniest, newest bandwagon that rolled past, regardless of how inconsistent it is with his gas tax vote – in this case, literally, directly, and on the exact same roads.
Can’t wait until 2021…
he has a point, this is about the governor grandstanding over how “prepared” he is, after his first failure when it really was a big storm. My concern is the excessive runoff into our waterways and even more potholes to navigate- which seems to take this state forever to finally fill. We are all tired of the many ways of wasting money this administration continues to plague us with. And I,for one, will not stop nagging the heck out of any of them, for the accountability, and some visible improvements to our infrastructure, with all this additional gas tax money!!! Bug them all- it’s ridiculous: paying off old bonds does not better roads and bridges make!
Empty suit Declan strikes again! GRIP 21!
Penny, you hit the nail on the head. Is Declan even considered a “Conservative Republican,” considering his voting record?
I have seen so many articles not only here, but in the APP, NJ.COM, and PATCH, that show he is a left leaning politician who only calls himself conservative due to the makeup of the district.
He has fooled quite a bit of people.
He seems to vote for every tax increase that comes before him in legislative chamber.
One news story had him absent from work, attending a concert or rock show when he was supposed to be in Trenton.
What is up with this, and why do people vote for him?? Is he just a nice guy? My taxes need to be lowered–that’s the bottom line, and Senator O’Scanlon has certainly failed that endeavor.