WAMC: Hudson Valley Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney Monday announced next steps regarding the suspended U.S. Coast Guard proposal for anchorage sites along the Hudson River. WAMC’s Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Allison Dunne reports from the Newburgh waterfront.

The Coast Guard at the end of June suspended the rulemaking process for a proposal of up to 10 additional anchorage sites between Yonkers and Kingston. And it directed a formal study through a longstanding process called a ports and waterways safety assessment, or a PAWSA. Maloney, a Democrat who represents the 18th District, has four principles he wants to ensure are included.

“The first is that Hudson Valley voices have to matter,” Maloney says. “Local voices have to matter.”

The second is relying on facts and science.

“Number three, the river gets a vote. The river gets a vote,” Maloney says. “The Hudson River is a national treasure.”

The fourth is let the sunshine in — a call for transparency.

“Over my dead body is this going to be a backdoor way to bring this proposal back. And over my dead body is it going to be some way to shut out the local community and railroad through some ill-guided proposal in another form. We have killed the anchorages proposals; that’s good. We’re putting the final nails in the coffin on that,” Maloney says. “And we’re going to go forward on a constructive conversation on public safety but it has to align with these principles. And we are going to bend and mold the PAWSA process in whatever way we have to do to get that done.”  Read more.