Maloney’s Promise to Ban Oil Barges from Anchoring on the Hudson River Clears House
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2019, which – in addition to authorizing increased funds and support for the United States Coast Guard – permanently bans the establishment of new anchorages on the Hudson River. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18) serves as the Chair of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and championed the inclusion of this provision in the Coast Guard Authorization Act. The bill now moves to the Senate.
“I promised that we would stop the Hudson River from becoming a parking lot for oil barges and today we’re one step closer. I’m proud this strong, bipartisan bill included my proposal, which will make our communities safer and protect our river. I look forward to the bill passing the Senate and becoming law soon,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney.
Rep. Maloney has been a longtime advocate for banning anchorage sites on the Hudson River. He worked alongside local groups in the Hudson Valley to kill an initial proposal made in 2016 to install ten new anchorage sites on the Hudson River from Yonkers to Kingston, including 42 long-term berths which would be used for oil storage. Last Congress, he championed an amendment defunding future attempts to establish new anchorage sites through 2018 and introduced the Hudson River Protection Act, which would prohibit new anchorage sites within five miles of an existing superfund site, a nuclear power plant, a site on the national register of historic places, or a critical habitat of an endangered species. These requirements would completely block plans to build anchorages in the lower Hudson Valley.