YONKERS – The Coast Guard’s recent report on Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment, which did not recommend new anchorages on the Hudson River between Yonkers and Kingston, is good news, but federal and local elected officials and stakeholders, Monday, said they want to make sure the issue does not surface again.
Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, who got the initial plan taken off the table, continues to lead the charge.
“Our message was simple – we said we would kill this proposal, we did it, and it should stay dead and we are going to watch it like a hawk to make sure that it doesn’t come back from the dead because we all believe the Hudson River deserves better than to become a parking lot for oil barges,” Maloney said.
Congressman Eliot Engel told a Yonkers news conference that while they have “derailed” the proposal, it could move forward. He said they will “continue to look for ways to help preserve and protect our shoreline communities at the federal level.”
Riverkeeper Patrol Boat Captain and Vice President for Advocacy John Lipscomb it remains unclear if a new proposal will be presented in the future, but the creation of a Hudson River Safety, Navigation and Operations Committee is “a historic new opportunity for collaboration across a wide range of interests.”
