bargesIISeptember 8, 2016 - Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino gathered Wednesday with Senator Terrence P. Murphy (R-Yorktown), and many other local elected officials, along the shores of the Hudson River to announce the Federal Government has extended the deadline for public comment on its plan to create up to 10 additional barge anchorages in close proximity to the pristine Westchester coastline. The new deadline is now December 6, 2016.
The Coast Guard recently unveiled its agenda calling for the additional anchorages on the Hudson River for commercial vessels, such as industrial barges, to drop anchor for long-term parking. Among the 10 spots in Westchester are Yonkers, Montrose and Verplank.
“Each anchorage would take up vast amounts of space to accommodate various numbers of vessels at multiple moorings,” said Astorino. “The proposed anchorage off the coast in Yonkers could see as many as 16 commercial barges at any given time stretching from the New York City border as far north as Hastings.”
Astorino also pointed to the government’s definition of “long-term” parking for the vessels.
“In the language of the proposal, ‘long-term’ is defined as 30 or more days. That’s not stopping by, that’s moving in,” Astorino said. “It’s classic federal-government-vagueness: Today’s ‘30 or more’ could be tomorrow’s ‘in perpetuity.’
Murphy announced he will be holding public forums in October, and urged the public to visit the government’s website federalregister.gov to express their opinions.