NEWBURGH – Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY18) Monday announced
he has introduced legislation that would halt the current proposal to
allow for additional commercial anchorages in the Hudson River between
Kingston and Yonkers.
The commercial shipping industry asked the US Coast Guard to consider
approving the moorings.
Maloney’s proposal would prohibit the Department of Homeland Security,
under which the Coast Guard operates, from establishing new anchorage
sites for vessels carrying hazardous or flammable material within five
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 congressman called the plan for additional anchorages
“a bad idea” which he pledged he will do “whatever I
can to stop it.”
The public comment period on the expanded anchorage plan has been extended
to the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Maloney’s Republican opponent in the November election,
Phil Oliva, criticized Maloney’s announcement on Monday as “more
political theatre… trying to save face five weeks before Election
Day.”
Oliva said the incumbent voted against the REINS act, which would require
congressional approval before any executive branch rule or regulation
with an annual economic impact of $100 million or more was enacted.
