Department of Environmental Protection Waives Fees To Speed Sandy Cleanup

Scott Detrow

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Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.

Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

November 1, 2012 | 2:30 PM

The Department of Environmental Protection is temporarily loosening some regulations, in order to speed up Sandy recovery efforts. More from witf:

The Department of Environmental Protection is waiving some disposal fees and working with waste haulers to allow them to pick up storm debris without certain authorizations.
DEP spokeswoman Lisa Kasianowitz says people living near waterways can also help with cleanup.
“If there is debris in nearby streams or creeks or on roads, they are allowed to go ahead and go in those streams and remove it without a permit,” Kasianowitz says. “That’s for the smaller debris that may be in the creeks and streams.”
She says a permit is needed if machinery is required to haul debris from waterways.
Kasianowitz adds waste haulers will not pick up damaged heating oil or propane tanks, which require special disposal methods.
Electronics also should be taken to special recycling facilities.

Click here to read all of StateImpact Pennsylvania’s Sandy coverage.