Shout louder to counter opposition

Indeed, even as the US Coast Guard has extended its requisite period to receive comments through to early December, local officials are getting set to hold their own hearings. The reaction, along the mostly scenic stretch of river from Yonkers up to Kingston, has been overwhelmingly negative, dredging up a litany of environmental, safety, and ‘quality of life’ objections to the plan.

This New Yorker, however, is in favour of the plan, where the Coast Guard is able to designate approved zones for commercial vessels to anchor. The proposed rule making can be found at: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-06-09/pdf/2016-13701.pdf.

My own comment on the proposed rules is prefaced with some wording to the effect that commerce and shipping are what built the Hudson River, creating the prosperity that funded the development of the beautiful towns now alongside it. But rather than the Erie Canal traffic of the 19th century, today’s growth centres around the oil business.

During the nascent oil boom of 2011 to late 2014, increasing amounts of crude oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota was transhipped by barge after being railed to terminals near Albany, north of Kingston. Oil was exported by vessels engaged in contracts with receivers in eastern Canada.

Irrespective of the Bakken boom – which cooled off as foreign imports became attractive again – the anchorages in the Upper Harbor are way too crowded. The Maritime Association of the Port of New York (MAPONY), in its submission to opposition to the new anchorages, noted: “Not having sufficient federally designated anchorages is a logistical nightmare and compounded in severe weather when terminals are backed up and lay-berths are shutdown.”

However, my issues are not with the NIMBY folks; I vehemently disagree with them, but they are entitled to make some noise. Rather, my issues are with those who support the plan, actually developed in conjunction with MAPONY, and with the American Waterway Operators, a trade group for tugboat operators mainly on inland waterways. Those in favour of the plan ought to also be making noise on the comment board, at the actual hearings and, more importantly, through adroitly working high level political and social connections.

The comment venue, at http://www.regulations.gov docket number USCG-2016-0132 is filled with an overwhelming number of negative comments; part of that ‘noise’ should be an economic study detailing the dollar-value importance of commercial traffic from claiming support.