ANCHORAGES AWAY?
Rep. Maloney touts House OK of measure aimed at prohibiting large-vessel parking
WASHINGTON, D.C. » Federal legislation aimed at preventing large vessels from anchoring on the Hudson River between Kingston and Yonkers has been approved by the House, U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney said Friday.
Maloney, D-Cold Spring, said language he wrote to halt the U.S. Coast Guard’s proposed rulemaking to expand mooring infrastructure along that stretch of the river was included in the Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act of 2017, which the House passed Thursday by a vote of 386-41.
Maloney’s said his “Anchorages Away Act,” if approved by the Senate and signed by the president, would require the Coast Guard, within 180 days of being enacted, to submit a report to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on the impacts of proposed anchorages on existing Superfund sites and habitats of endangered species, as well as the Coast Guard’s response to those concerns.
The Coast Guard then would be barred from establishing any anchorages between Kingston and Yonkers until at least 180 days after submission of the report.
The House action came three weeks after the Coast Guard shelved, but stopped short of outright killing, its controversial plan to create 10 anchorage grounds for large vessels between Kingston and Yonkers.
“The original proposal is effectively dead, but I want to
make sure it stays dead and buried,” Maloney said in a prepared statement Friday. “Getting my bill passed is just another way we can stop this thing and learn the effects that this — or any future — proposal will have on our river and our communities. I said I would do everything I can to kill this dumb idea once and for all, and you can be sure I’ll continue leading that fight.”
Maloney also has introduced legislation called the Hudson River Protection Act, which would prohibit the Coast Guard from establishing new anchorage sites for vessels carrying hazardous or flammable material within 5 miles of an existing Superfund site, a nuclear power plant, a site on the National Register of Historic Places, or a critical habitat of an endangered species.
The Superfund requirement
alone would cover the entire section of the Hudson River between Kingston and Yonkers.
The shipping industry has said the anchorage sites are needed to create safe places for large vessels, including oil tankers, to stop and crews to rest. The sites were proposed by the Maritime Association of the Port of New York/New Jersey Tug and Barge Committee, the Hudson River Port Pilots Association and the American Waterways Operators.
Three of the proposed sites are between Dutchess County and Ulster County. The northernmost, the Kingston Flats South Anchorage Ground, would be in front of the Rhinebeck shoreline. That anchorage ground would encompass 279 acres and accommodate up to three vessels for longterm use. It would be directly across from the river from Kingston Point Beach.
The two other area sites would be along the town of Esopus shoreline. A Port
Ewen site would cover about 50 acres for one vessel, while the Big Rock Point site, immediately south of Port Ewen, would cover about 210 acres for up to four vessels.
The plan has drawn significant criticism from elected officials and environmental groups up and down the Hudson River, including Molinaro, Ulster County Executive Michael Hein, the Ulster County Legislature, Kingston Mayor Steve Noble, the Kingston Common Council and supervisors of towns on both sides of the river.
Opponents say they fear the river will become a parking lot for commercial vessels waiting their turn at the Port of Albany and that the number of vessels carrying Bakken crude along the river could increase significantly, creating a potential hazard.
The New York state Legislature last month approved a bipartisan measure to give the state additional say over large-vessel anchorage locations on the Hudson.