Recent News

Scenic Hudson: These days the Hudson River can feel like a car barrier — something to cross on a bridge or drive alongside. But originally this curving waterway was the region’s superhighway.

A pilot project is nudging the Hudson Valley to return to river transport — in a carbon-neutral way — with sail freight. The captain behind the project, Sam Merrett, is an avid young sailor who has been carefully restoring a 68,000-pound steel schooner called the Apollonia for the last four years.

The Apollonia was scheduled to begin its first cargo runs from upriver to New York City this summer. Although the launch has been pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Merrett has teamed up with the Hudson River Maritime Museum in the meantime for the North River Sail. The joint educational sail went up and down the Hudson in June with the museum’s sun-powered Solaris boat. 

Together, the vessels raised awareness of the river’s transportation history — and future potential. Both are pioneering. The Solaris is the first 100 percent solar-powered tour boat to earn U.S. Coast Guard certification, according to the museum.  Read more.

Kingston Daily Freeman: Federal legislation to permanently bar large vessels from anchoring in the Hudson River between Kingston and Yonkers is halfway to the president’s desk.

The bill, authored by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-Cold Spring, has cleared the House and awaits action by the Senate.

“The bill I wrote also requires that any new oil barge storage on the Hudson River, wherever it is sited, requires 180 days notice to the Congress so that we can see how we feel about that, as well,” Maloney said. “Because we care about the whole Hudson River, not just our part of it.”

Similar federal legislation approved in 2017 imposed only a two-year ban on new anchorage grounds.

Maloney said the new bill does include a provision under which barges that become disabled can stay where they are until they are able to move or be moved. And the bill does not include any penalty resulting from damage or spillage caused by a barge.

At a Thursday news conference at the Hudson River shore in New Windsor, the town’s deputy supervisor, Patricia Mullarkey, said, “New Windsor is very happy to be a part of this. New Windsor realizes what a jewel the Hudson River is….” Read more.

Additional news articles about the legislation:

Bill Banning Barge Anchorages On Hudson River Passes House, Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow, NY Patch

Hudson Anchorage Ban Passes House, The Highlands Current

Local lawmakers speak out on anchorage bill, Mid-Hudson News

Rep. Maloney Hails House Passage Of Measure To Ban Anchorage Sites, WAMC

Rep. Maloney’s Ban on Oil Barges Anchoring in the Hudson River Passes House, Spectrum News

National Geographic: One day last June, two researchers were towing a special sonar system up and down the Hudson River near Hyde Park, New York, the site of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s home, when they saw something pleasantly shocking.

They were helping state biologists assess whether the spawning or foraging of a fabled and endangered bottom-feeding denizen, the Atlantic sturgeon(Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus), was being disrupted when commercial vessels dropped anchor in a spot designated as a waiting area to manage ship traffic.

The anchorage, established in 1999, happened to be located in a stretch of the Hudson that is one of the most important spawning grounds in its range along the coast from Florida through Canada’s maritime provinces. More anchorages were planned elsewhere in the Hudson….

The sonar revealed a sturgeon roughly twice as long as anything seen that day—confidently estimated at just over 14 feet from nose to tail tip. That’s a size that, even decades ago, even a century ago, was considered a rarity. But now, it was unimaginable given what this species had endured….

The debate over adding anchorages along the Hudson is on hold for now after fierce opposition from environmental groups and scientists, including a cautionary 2016 letter to the Coast Guard from Madsen and Fox, who’ve been doing surveys around Hyde Park for several years.

But any harm from dragging anchors would be just one of a host of far broader assaults on this species, and sturgeon worldwide, over the last century. Read more.

(Photo, Courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Westchester Magazine: The Hudson River, namesake to an entire art movement and a central pillar of Westchester culture, has another distinction to add to its list: as of 2019 it is also the second most endangered river in the United States.

Every year, American Rivers releases its America’s Most Endangered Rivers report, weighing the significance of the country’s water sources against pending decisions that might impact their vitality within the next year, the severity of the threat, and the public’s ability to affect positive change. This year, for the first time in more than two decades, the Hudson River is included in this list, and in the second-highest spot.

The threat surprisingly comes not from pollutants or the contentious Indian Point nuclear facility, but from current plans by the Army Corps of Engineers to build surge barriers in and along the 315-mile river to manage storm damage. The goal is to prevent or mitigate destruction caused by extreme weather like 2012’s Hurricane Sandy. Unfortunately, as residents might recall from the Coast Guard’s previous attempts to build anchorage sites throughout the Hudson several years ago, these plans do not always receive the backing of local residents or environmental groups. Read more.

Amtrak has announced that it is withdrawing its plan to install gates and fences along the Hudson River shoreline. According to the Amtrak press release, the proposal will be revised “in conjunction with a five-year corridor plan to improve safety long the Empire Service Hudson Line.” Amtrak will work with state and local officials and affected communities as it formulates the revised plan. For more information, visit Gatesgate.org.

Amtrak has proposed new fencing and locked gates at crossings along the Empire Corridor South between Rhinecliff and Stuyvesant. Eventually, it plans to construct similar barriers at locations between Rensselaer and Poughkeepsie.

Amtrak’s project would eliminate public access to the Hudson River at places where people have launched boats, fished and hunted for generations. Residents of Castleton-on-Hudson have already lost access to their public waterfront park.

Scenic Hudson and the Towns of Germantown and Rhinebeck invite you to Balancing Passenger Rail Safety with Public River Access on Saturday December 15th from 10 a.m. to noon at  the Kellner Community Activities Center, 50 Palatine Park Road, Germantown, NY. Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m. with refreshments and networking.

The purpose of this event is for you to learn about Amtrak’s proposal for new fencing and locked gates at crossings along the Empire Corridor South between Rensselaer and Poughkeepsie. This project would eliminate public access to the Hudson River at places where people have launched boats, fished and hunted for generations. We look forward to sharing with you 21^st Century approaches that better balance railroad safety with public access.

Following the program, you’ll have an opportunity to visit a nearby site where a proposed 700-foot-long fence would prevent generations of public access.

Please RSVP for the event here.

Sen. Murphy press release: Albany, NY – When the United States Coast Guard announced an ill-conceived plan to establish 10 new anchorage sites for oil barges along the Hudson River, Senator Terrence Murphy led the charge that ultimately sank their proposal. When Entergy stunned the Hudson Valley with the news that they planned to close Indian Point by 2021, Senator Murphy led a bipartisan coalition of state, county, and local officials to secure $24 million in state funds to relieve the financial burden for residents in the area.

In early July, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) held a series of meetings to explore the impact of offshore barriers to protect the metropolitan region on storm surge flooding but failed to address sea level rise. They also neglected to hold any meetings in the Hudson Valley, despite it being the heart of the Hudson Valley Estuary. Senator Murphy made it his mission to see that the people most affected by the USACE’s actions would have a voice.

On Wednesday, October 3, the USACE, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and Westchester County Executive George Latimer will host two scoping meetings for the New York and New Jersey Harbor and Tributaries (NYNJHAT) Study. The meetings will be held at the Westchester County Center, 198 Central Avenue, in White Plains, with the first meeting from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. and the second from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.  But many say more needs to be done. Read More

New study provides first-ever comprehensive scientific analysis of risks to drinking water, habitats, riverfront communities. Report comes as U.S. Department of Transportation repeals rule requiring more efficient brakes on trains carrying crude oil, other flammable substances

HUDSON VALLEY—Polluted habitats and beaches spanning from Kingston to New York Harbor… Explosions causing significant human injury and fatalities… Toxic vapors that could pose serious health threats… A new scientific study of oil spill risks on the Hudson River evaluates the potential for disasters like these to occur.

Scenic Hudson commissioned Environmental Research Consulting (ERC), a leading expert in analyzing oil spill impacts and emergency preparedness, to undertake this first-ever Hudson River Oil Spill Risk Assessment (HROSRA). It is intended to provide stakeholders—including federal, state and local officials, spill responders, environmental groups and concerned citizens—with scientific data about the impacts a spill could have on drinking water, critical wildlife habitats, fishing and other recreational opportunities, and waterfront communities.

On September 24, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that it had repealed its rule mandating safety upgrades for trains carrying crude oil and other flammable substances. Under the rule, all trains bearing hazardous materials like these had until 2021 to install electronically controlled pneumatic brakes, which decrease the likelihood of derailment.  Read more.

(Photo: Tanker Sanchi Explosion in January 2018)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering several options for coastal storm protections in our region, and some of these options would have catastrophic consequences for the Hudson and New York Harbor. Specifically, storm surge barriers – giant ocean gates – would choke off tidal flow and the migration of fish – damaging the life of the Hudson River Estuary forever.

Scenic Hudson has a website page with links to the key documents and where to send your comments.  There’s also a page with some of the comments that have been submitted by public officials, journalists and members of the public, as well a list of government resolutions.

Scenic Hudson: To further protect the Hudson River and lands surrounding it, Scenic Hudson commissioned the first-ever Hudson River Oil Spill Risk Assessment. It provides quantitative and qualitative information on the likelihood of oil spills occurring on the river, and gauges their potential economic, community and environmental impacts. The assessment also takes a comprehensive look at current spill-prevention measures and response preparedness, and offers strategies to improve them.

The Hudson River Oil Spill Risk Assessment provides both quantitative and qualitative information on spill threats that can be used for a variety of purposes, including, but not limited to:

• assessing the efficacy of existing spill prevention measures
• developing or evaluating the potential for new spill prevention measures
• assessing the current state of spill response preparedness
• developing or evaluating the potential for new spill response preparedness measures
• assessing current spill contingency planning
• developing new spill contingency planning measures

Many factors influence the harm an oil spill can cause to resources vital to the region’s public and environmental health. They include the trajectory of spilled oil, its chemical and physical properties, and when and where a spill occurs. To provide a realistic overview of possible outcomes, the assessment details 77 hypothetical spill scenarios in nine locations along the Hudson.  Read more.

(Photo: The team that created the Hudson River Oil Spill Risk Assessment was led by Dr. Dagmar Schmidt Etkin (third from left) of Environmental Research Consulting in Cortlandt Manor, and included Dr. Deborah French McCay and Jill Rowe of RPS Ocean Science, John Joeckel of SEAConsult and Dr. Andrew Wolford of Risknology, Inc.)

Riverkeeper: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering six different plans for massive offshore barriers and/or land-based floodwalls intended to “manage the risk of coastal storm damage” to New York Harbor and the Hudson Valley. Several of these alternatives could threaten the very existence of the Hudson as a living river.

If you live anywhere near the shorelines of New York City, New York Harbor or the Hudson up to Troy, your community will be forever affected by this decision.

Anyone who cares about the life in the Hudson River needs to become informed and involved, now.

Please attend one of these meetings, just announced:

• Monday, July 9, 3-5 p.m., NYC: Borough of Manhattan Community Center in Tribeca, enter at 199 Chambers St, New York, NY 10007, between Greenwich St. and the West Side Highway. The session is in the Conference Room-Richard Harris Terrace, on the main floor.

• Monday, July 9, 6-8 p.m., NYC: (duplicate session) at the Borough of Manhattan Community Center in Tribeca, enter at 199 Chambers St., Manhattan, between Greenwich St. and the West Side Highway. The session is in the Conference Room-Richard Harris Terrace, on the main floor.

• Tuesday, July 10, 3-5 p.m., Newark: Rutgers University-Newark Campus, Paul Robeson Campus Center, 2nd floor, Essex Room. Entrance is at 350 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Newark, N.J.

• Tuesday, July 10, 6-8 p.m., Newark: (duplicate session) at Rutgers University-Newark Campus, Paul Robeson Campus Center, 2nd floor, Essex Room. Entrance is at 350 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Newark, N.J.

• Wednesday, July 11, 6-8 p.m., Poughkeepsie: Hudson Valley Community Center (Auditorium room), 110 Grand Avenue, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

This process is being fast-tracked, and it’s an outrage. The Army Corps gave only 12 days’ notice for meetings on an issue that will take many years to resolve and could change the river forever.

The six alternatives are under consideration as part of the New York – New Jersey Harbor and Tributaries (NYNJHAT) Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study, affecting more than 2,150 square miles. We all know that sea level rise and more frequent, intense storms require action and planning. But there is a difference between creating more protective, resilient shorelines over time, and installing massive, in-water barriers that threaten to change the ecosystem forever. Offshore barriers will choke off tidal flow and fish migration – the very life of our river.

Riverkeeper is working on an information piece to tell you what you need to know. Please mark your calendars and stay tuned.  Learn more.

HVNN.com: Representatives Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18) and Eliot Engel (NY-16) have requested that the Coast Guard commit to conducting early public outreach and release an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prior to proposing any new anchorage proposals.

They also requested that the Guard permanently maintain a Harbor Safety Committee for the Hudson River north of the George Washington Bridge.

In 2017, the Coast Guard rescinded its initial proposal to establish new anchorage sites along the river and instead opted to conduct a Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment (PAWSA). Although the initial proposal is dead, no legal barrier prohibits future attempts to propose the establishment of new anchorage sites in the river.

“The Hudson Valley killed the first anchorage proposal together – ten thousand citizens, committed local groups, and elected officials on both sides of the aisle – but this thing could come back – and if it does, we want to be ready,” said Rep. Maloney. “We’re just asking the Coast Guard to do things in a more transparent way this time around – clearly this means a lot to us, and they need to take that into account before they propose adding even a single new anchorage site.”  Read more.

Times Union: Scuba divers and underwater cutting equipment were used Wednesday to remove a sunken barge from the bottom of the Hudson River at the Port of Coeymans.

The barge had been there since sinking in February while tied up at the port, said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier. The barge could not be refloated, and was too heavy to lift, so it had to be cut up underwater and lifted out in sections, he said.

At the time of the sinking, the barge was carrying construction and demolition debris, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

That waste was recovered from the river before efforts were made to remove the barge, according to DEC. The agency added that “no adverse environmental impacts are expected from the salvage operation.”  Read more.

Daily Freeman: Environmental advocacy group Scenic Hudson is cheering a decision by an oil transportation company to scale back its crude oil shipping plans on the Hudson River and rail system.

Massachusetts-based Global Partners said earlier this week it would scale back a permit that allows it to increase the amount of tar sands crude oil from 450 million gallons to 2.2 billion gallons annually.

The move was announced earlier this week based on information provided from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to opponents, but a public document was not immediately available Thursday.

“We need to await Global’s permit modification application to DEC to see the exact numbers, but what they stated was they would be significantly scaling back their currently allowed crude oil output and that they would be withdrawing their application to handle the heavy tar sands product at their Albany terminal,” said Hayley Carlock, Scenic Hudson’s environmental advocacy director.  Read more.

WAMC: A company that handles crude oil shipped by tanker trains and Hudson River barges says it’s scaling back operations at the Port of Albany.

County Executive Dan McCoy got the official word Tuesday that Massachusetts-based Global Partners opted to withdraw its application to expand operations and build a crude oil heating facility at the port. McCoy held a press conference Wednesday morning in a parking lot near the playground at Ezra Prentice Homes on South Pearl Street in Albany.  “And it’s been almost four years to the day that I stood here and I signed a moratorium against Global. And the thing about when I signed that moratorium, everyone said to me ‘what’s a little county like Albany County gonna do against a giant like Global?’ Well, I stand here today and I can tell ya, we did a lot, and you can make a difference if you stick to it and you see it through.”

Global sued the state Department of Environmental Conservation in 2013 for not issuing the permit, which was opposed by environmental groups and Ezra Prentice residents, who say they live in constant fear of oil spills, odors and the possibility their lives could be disrupted if there was a derailment of nearby freight trains.   “We want people that live here to enjoy the quality of life and to be safe. And again, you know when you fight Goliath vs. David, you can win with the right team behind you. And I want to again thank the team and the residents for everything that they did.”  Read more.

Putnam Daily Voice: Students in Pace University’s Environmental Policy Clinic along with their adviser, John Cronin, spent Friday, April 20 in Washington, D.C., advocating for issues related to the Hudson River.

Cronin is the senior fellow for Environmental Affairs at Pace.  Cronin said a controversial proposal for oil barge anchorages on the Hudson River was the subject of their visit with the region’s congressional delegation.

“Our students conveyed the need for Coast Guard procedures that assure both river protection and river safety,” said Cronin, who is the Clinic instructor.

“We hope that representatives of the tug and barge industry, who have also been active in Washington, agree with the Clinic that these issues need not be at odds,” Cronin told Daily Voice.  Read more.

Amtrak has submitted a proposal to New York State to install fencing and gates at several locations along the Hudson River in Rhinecliff, Tivoli, Germantown, Stockport and Stuyvesant. The purpose of the fences and gates is to keep people safe, but these barriers will block people from enjoying access points to the the Hudson that they have enjoyed access for years.

Scenic Hudson and Riverkeeper have encouraged their members to submit comments on the proposal.  The public comment period has been extended to Tuesday, May 1.

Here’s a page with more information and maps of the proposed fences and gates.

Hudson Independent: The Coast Guard has shelved its pro­posal to add 43 barge an­chor­age lo­ca­tions on the Hud­son River, but en­vi­ron­men­tal or­ga­ni­za­tions are keep­ing a watch­ful eye on how the plan might be res­ur­rected in the fu­ture.

The con­tro­ver­sial con­cept, pur­sued by the ship­ping in­dus­try and ini­tially pro­posed two years ago, drew op­po­si­tion from mu­nic­i­pal­i­ties and much of the pub­lic, with en­vi­ron­men­tal groups lead­ing the re­sis­tance. A ma­jor con­cern was that with the added an­chor­age sites, haz­ardous car­goes such as oil could leak into the Hud­son River from the barges.

Pressed by the op­po­si­tion, the Coast Guard sus­pended the plan last year and held two work­shops this past No­vem­ber, one in Al­bany and the other in Pough­keep­sie, to hear from both the mar­itime in­ter­ests and those against the pro­posal.

Last month, the Coast Guard re­leased an ac­count of the is­sues dealt with at the work­shops: the Hud­son River Ports and Wa­ter­ways Safety As­sess­ment (PAWSA) Re­port. The re­lease stated, “The PAWSA work­shops were held in or­der to pro­vide stake­hold­ers an op­por­tu­nity to as­sist the Coast Guard in un­der­stand­ing nav­i­ga­tion safety and en­vi­ron­men­tal con­cerns on the Hud­son River.” It called the re­port, “a start­ing point for con­tin­u­ing di­a­logue with the Hud­son River stake­holder com­mu­nity.” The an­chor­age is­sue was placed in abeyance, at least for the pre­sent.  Read more.

Highlands Current: The U.S. Coast Guard’s proposal to create 10 anchorage sites in the Hudson River, including one between Beacon and Newburgh, is dead — for now.

A newly completed safety assessment by the Coast Guard does not recommend adding anchorage grounds to the two available at Yonkers and Hyde Park. But it also did not rule out more anchorage sites being proposed in the future.

The initial plan, which came in January 2016 at the request of the Tug & Barge Committee of the Port of New York and New Jersey, would have created space for up to 43 barges to anchor in the river between Yonkers and Kingston.

The Tug & Barge Committee said that the anchorages were needed to allow crews to rest on trips between the New York Harbor and Albany. Opponents argued the distance is too short to require such a large number of anchorages; that the anchorages would harm marine life and the quality of life for riverfront communities; and that the proposal would lead to oil-laden tankers parking in the river for weeks at a time while waiting for the price of oil to reach a favorable amount in the Port of Albany.  Read more.

The Examiner: Regional officials declared victory for the Hudson Valley after the United States Coast Guard announced last week it wasn’t setting sail on a controversial plan to create 43 new barge anchorages in 10 sites along the Hudson River, from Yonkers to Kingston.

Two of the 10 sites that were being considered by the Coast Guard were located within the borders of the Town of Cortlandt: approximately 127 acres in the Montrose region that would accommodate as many as three vessels, and approximately 98 acres between Tomkins Cove in Rockland County and Verplanck that would also handle up to three vessels. The Coast Guard was proposing to use more than 2,000 acres of the Hudson for barges.  Read more.

Poughkeepsie Journal Editorial: Sure, it is highly encouraging the Coast Guard is suspending the outrageous and dangerous notion of allowing a slew of new commercial shipping anchorages along the Hudson River.

The Coast Guard is, at least for now, rejecting the proposal for 10 such areas – in places stretching from Yonkers to Kingston, where commercial ships, mostly oil tankers, could drop anchor.

But this potentially menacing matter isn’t entirely settled. The Coast Guard’s “final Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment” leads open the possibility of such anchorages in the future, and that is clearly unacceptable.  Read more.

lohud.com: U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney declared the Hudson River anchorage proposal dead at a waterfront news conference Monday afternoon.

He’s planning to keep it that way.

The Cold Spring Democrat, with constituents on both sides of the river, said he put language in a $1.2 trillion spending package being considered by Congress that would cut the legs off any anchorage plan for the next year

“That is language we’re going to try and include in this spending bill as a sort of belt and suspenders approach to make sure we’re putting one more nail in the coffin of this bad idea,” Maloney said.

He was flanked by local officials including Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, Westchester County Executive George Latimer and his colleague in Congress, U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-Bronx.  Read more.

HVNN.com: After the Coast Guard released a final Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment (PAWSA) report which did not recommend the installation of new anchorages on the Hudson River, Representative Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18), other elected officials, and local stakeholders vowed to oppose any potential future anchorage proposals and to hold the Coast Guard to the results of its own PAWSA report.

The PAWSA was initiated by the Coast Guard after Rep. Maloney led local groups to kill an initial proposal made in 2016. The PAWSA process provided an opportunity for all relevant stakeholders to hold comprehensive discussions on safety risks in the Hudson River, but its results are not legally binding.

“This is another huge win and one more nail in the coffin for this unnecessary and dangerous proposal. We expect the Coast Guard to keep fidelity to the PAWSA process that they initiated, and if they don’t, they’ll have us to answer to,” said Rep. Maloney. “We won’t take our eyes of the ball when it comes to the anchorages, and we’ll keep working to make sure the proposal stays dead.”  Read more.

Today the U.S. Coast Guard issued its report on the Hudson River Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment (PAWSA) workshops held in November 2017.  The gist is that the proposal to establish many new anchorages has been suspended, at least for now.  Here are some of the news articles that came out today about the report.

Coast Guard Wise to Avoid for Now Citizen-Opposed Hudson Anchorages and Pursue Other …

Scenic Hudson: HUDSON VALLEY , N.Y.—Today the U.S. Coast Guard issued its report on the Hudson River Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment (PAWSA) workshops held in November 2017.  Read more.

Coast Guard scuttles Hudson River anchorage proposal

Daily News: KINGSTON, N.Y. (AP) — A proposal to allow up to 43 crude oil barges to anchor in the Hudson River south of Albany has been scuttled after the U.S. Coast Guard issued a 77-page report on the issue.  Read more.

Coast Guard noncommittal on oil barge future for Hudson River

Albany Times Union: Controversial shelved plans to allow crude oil barges to anchor in the Hudson River were kept in limbo in a U.S. Coast Guard study issued Tuesday.  Read more.

Coast Guard report says more time needed to reach conclusion about Hudson River anchorage …

Kingston Daily Freeman: The Coast Guard has not yet made any decisions regarding establishing anchorages or using other waterways-management tools to manage navigation risk on the Hudson River ,” the report states. “The Coast Guard will use this … report, together with other information, to determine whether, and to what …  Read more.

Coast Guard: Hudson River anchorage proposal off the table

Lohud: The Coast Guard has scuttled a plan to allow new commercial shipping anchorages along the Hudson River — but environmental advocates say the fight is not over.…  Read more.

Coast Guard says, for now, no new Hudson River anchorages

MidHudsonNews.com: ALBANY – The US Coast Guard, Tuesday, issued its report on the Hudson River Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment and determined that allowing additional commercial anchorages on the Hudson River between Yonkers and Kingston was not an agreed upon recommendation to come from two …   Read more.

Coast Guard: No New Anchorages on Hudson, For Now

NRDC: The United States Coast Guard issued its Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment (PAWSA) Report for the Hudson River yesterday. Notably, it did not include a plan to add additional anchorages, places for ships to anchor, along any part of the Hudson River, making this the latest victory in our campaign to protect the river from further industrialization.   Read more.

Coast Guard: No decision on new Hudson River anchorages

Workboat: The Coast Guard has deferred any decision on creating new barge anchorages on New York’s Hudson River, after months of study and intense political pressure from opponents of the proposal.

A new Hudson River Safety, Navigation and Operations Committee is already one outcome from a pair of big stakeholder meetings the Coast Guard convened at Albany and Poughkeepsie in November 2017.

As for new anchorages, that thorny subject is being put off, for the time being. The Coast Guard had sought to resolve conflicts using the Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment (PAWSA) process, a workshop and dialogue framework that has been used on 58 other waterway systems since the late 1990s.  Read more.

No New Anchorages Sites For Now, Coast Guard Says

Rivertowns Patch: It seems that for the time being there will be no additional commercial anchorage sites on the Hudson River between Yonkers and Kingston. The U.S. Coast Guard Tuesday issued its report on the Hudson River Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment which determined that allowing the new anchorage sites was not agreed upon.  Read more.  xx

Coast Guard Hudson River safety report: anchorage regulations need clarification

westfaironline: A report released Tuesday by the U.S. Coast Guard does not include a recommendation that additional anchorages be added to the Hudson River, but it does say regulations on where barges can anchor need clarification.  Read more.

US Coast Guard Press Release: The Coast Guard made public the Hudson River Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment (PAWSA) report today from the workshops held in Poughkeepsie and Albany in November last year.

The PAWSA workshops were held in order to provide stakeholders an opportunity to assist the Coast Guard in understanding navigation safety and environmental concerns on the Hudson River. This report is a starting point for continuing dialogue with the Hudson River stakeholder community.

The most significant PAWSA workshops recommendations were:

• To create a Hudson River Safety Committee (HRSC);
• To increase recreational boating safety information; and
• To clarify and remove ambiguity from current regulations.

The HRSC will provide a forum for relevant stakeholders to address concerns identified by the PAWSA with non-regulatory action, collaboration, and coordination. Although still in development, the HRSC has already held three meetings with successful outcomes and is bringing diverse stakeholders together to discuss safety and environmental interests pertinent to Hudson River waterway users and communities.

The Coast Guard plans to continue boating safety education efforts, to include coordination with State and local agencies. At the request of PAWSA participants, the Coast Guard plans to increase patrol presence on the Hudson River.

Through the PAWSA, the Coast Guard identified ambiguity in existing Hudson River anchorage regulations. The Coast Guard is currently reviewing options to address this issue.

“We will take full advantage of the stakeholder partnerships gained through the two PAWSA workshops, and work with the HRSC to discuss how to best reduce risk, and improve the safety and security of the Hudson River,” said Rear Admiral Steven Poulin, First Coast Guard District Commander.

The full report under “Hudson River, New York” can be found here: https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=pawsaFinalReports.  This press release is here.

(Here’s a key passage from the report’s conclusion regarding the anchorages:

“Besides our continuing effort to support the stand-up of the HRSC the Coast Guard has not yet made any decisions regarding establishing anchorages or using other waterways management tools to manage navigation risk on the Hudson River. The Coast Guard will use this PAWSA report, together with other information, to determine whether, and to what extent, regulatory actions are needed.

“During the PAWSA workshops we acknowledged that the existing anchorage regulations are unclear, and we are considering how those regulations could be made more readily understood. We have no outcome timelines at this time. Any other substantive rulemaking effort associated with the Hudson River will follow Coast Guard public notice and comment rulemaking procedures to allow for public participation in the process.”)

Luhud.com: One of the Tappan Zee Constructors’ runaway barges that drifted away during Friday’s storm demolished “the life blood” of the Irvington Boat and Beach Club.

“It must’ve got away because of the tides and the winds,” the club’s Vice Commodore Marcus Witte said. “It must’ve went up the (Hudson) River during high tide and came back down during low tide and slam dunked into our pier.”

The pier connected to a floating dock in the Hudson River and is the “key” attraction for the locally run, locally built private boat club that dates back to the 1950s, Witte said.

“It’s a destination,” Witte said about the pier and dock, “with views of Manhattan, the Tappan Zee Bridge, the Palisades. It’s a great attraction for our members … Not having it is a big loss.”   Read more.

Rivertowns Daily Voice: The Coast Guard and partner agencies have beached six barges that broke away from their moored location on the Hudson River.

The construction barges were drifting south of the Tappan Zee Bridge on Friday afternoon.

The barges were beached in various locations between Dobbs Ferry and Yonkers. Another two barges are aground in the area of Palisades Park, New Jersey. The captain of the Port has instructed that a tug remain on scene with each barge until conditions stabilize, the Coast Guard said on Saturday.  Read more.

Poughkeepsie Journal: An estimated 100,000 people in the Hudson Valley rely on the Hudson for their drinking water. The Hudson continues to be in the spotlight for issues including the controversy over proposed barge anchorages and the PCBs cleanup north of Albany.

Riverkeeper, an environmental group, commissioned the Center for Watershed Protection to produce the report. The recommendations are based on Riverkeeper’s new “Drinking Source Water Protection Scorecard.”

Over the past year, Riverkeeper worked with elected officials from the seven towns and cities to form a collective. The municipalities include the city and town of Poughkeepsie; the village and town of Rhinebeck, the towns of Esopus, Hyde Park and Lloyd and the Dutchess County Water & Wastewater Authority.

The report concluded the towns and cities need to focus on the cleanup of the water source, in this case, the Hudson River, as opposed to first tackling the water treatment plants; the city of Poughkeepsie recently finished $18 million in upgrades to the Poughkeepsie Water Treatment Plant, that it shares with the town of Poughkeepsie.  Read more.

CNN Money: The resurgence of the oil industry can be traced back to what happened in Congress one day in December 2015.

That’s when lawmakers ended the 40-year ban on U.S. oil exports. Crude pumped in Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota could suddenly be shipped overseas.

At the time, a glut of supply was wreaking havoc on the energy industry. Crude eventually crashed to $26 a barrel.

But that glut is disappearing, thanks in part to booming oil exports from the United States. Crude that was once trapped inside the country is now going to Europe, Latin America and even China.

The United States exported a record 1.7 million barrels of oil per day in October 2017, according to the most recent stats from the Energy Information Administration. That’s four times as much as in 2015, when federal law prohibited shipping oil to most places except Canada.  Read more.

The Hudson Independent: Riverkeeper, Scenic Hudson, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, along with other organizations, municipalities and thousands of residents along its shores, are of single mind when it comes to the Hudson River. They do not want to see a significant increase in barges or other oil-carrying vessels that could pose “potential dangers” on the river, as they have been characterized.

What will transpire on the Hudson could be disclosed early this year when the U.S. Coast Guard releases a report on two workshops held this past November that brought together, “users, stakeholders, and agencies, to determine the safety of the waterway.”

The public concern was sparked originally from a 2016 Coast Guard proposal to set up or enlarge as many as 10 commercial shipping ports, starting in Yonkers and in other locations as far north as Kingston off the Rhinebeck shoreline, some 70 miles upstream. Forty three anchorages were proposed, providing ports for barges as large as 600 feet in length.  Read more.