POUGHKEEPSIE – A memorializing resolution, adopted unanimously by the Poughkeepsie Common Council, will be on its way soon to state Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos.
Peter Bernard, the urban designer for Poughkeepsie-based Scenic Hudson, called it essential to protecting the vitality of the Hudson River and people who live near it.
“It is not a ban on putting anchorages in,” Bernard said. “It’s rules and regulations guiding where they happen and why they happen there. This is a power that DEC was given by the last New York State Legislature but it one the DEC has not acted on yet.”
The resolution raises several points, including:
It remains a top priority of the City of Poughkeepsie to prevent any new anchorage grounds in the Hudson River from being sited at locations where they pose a clear and direct threat to the environment, quality of life, and economic development goals of the City
The City of Poughkeepsie is home to a bustling waterfront which is an economic, scenic and natural asset, the integrity of which would be threatened by the establishment of new barge anchorage grounds
The resolution was authored by Democrats Matthew McNamara and Natasha Cherry.
“We have a bustling waterfront; we want that to continue,” said McNamara. “This resolution would make a request to the DEC commission advancing the rule-making process to establish tanker avoidance zones for petroleum-bearing vessels.”
Cherry said this would put Poughkeepsie “in solidarity” with many other municipalities in the anchorage target zone which stretches from Yonkers to Kingston.
