Backlash over plan to park oil barges on Hudson

• Up to 16 barges may be allowed to anchor between Alpine and Yonkers, N.Y.
• Backers say the anchorage is needed due to the growing number of tug boats and barges on the river.
• Opponents say the plan will "re-industrialize" the river and increase the chance of an oil spill.
• Of 10,212 comments sent to the Coast Guard about the plan, few came from N.J. Most were opposed.

Just north of the George Washington Bridge near the preserved banks of Palisades Interstate Park lies a 715-acre section of the Hudson River that could soon become a virtual parking lot for the scores of oil barges that travel the waterway.

The U.S. Coast Guard is evaluating a proposal that would allow up to 16 barges to drop anchor in the middle of the river between Alpine and Yonkers, N.Y., to accommodate an expected increase in the amount of oil hauled to and from Albany N.Y.

It is the largest and southernmost of seven proposed anchorages on the Hudson, and has galvanized local officials, residents and environmental groups in New York. They say the plan is an environmental threat that will “re-industrialize” the river, make it unsightly and increase the risk of an oil spill. Supporters say it will make the river safer by having more places to anchor with increased traffic.

The issue, however, has gone largely unnoticed in New Jersey even though more people live along the state’s 26 miles of waterfront than ever before. Of the 10,212 comments sent to the Coast Guard about the project, few came from New Jersey.

“It’s the forgotten river for so many here, but this proposal will affect New Jersey, no question,” said Gil Hawkins, president of the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association, who lives in Leonia. “When you go to the Palisades and look down and see these giant oil barges instead of small boats or eagles hunting fish, maybe then people will realize how important this issue is.”

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Over the past five years, the Hudson River has become a major transportation route for crude oil, with millions of gallons transported from upstate New York to refineries, including Bayway in Linden. The crude originates from the oil boom in North Dakota and is shipped by rail to Albany, where New York officials have allowed the amount handled at the city's port to triple to 2.8 billion gallons annually.

While it is a boon for domestic oil production, it has raised concerns about the risk of a spill on the recovering waterway, though oil barges are required to have double hulls and there have been no major spills on the river. A tanker carrying crude ran aground near Albany in December 2012 and ruptured its outer hull but did not spill any of its 12 million gallons of oil.

All of that barge traffic has created a logjam on the river even though there are already anchorages near Yonkers. The Maritime Association of the Port of New York/New Jersey, a coalition of 25 tug, barge and oil companies, submitted a proposal for additional anchorages last year to the U.S. Coast Guard’s district office in Boston.

The association says the anchorage system on the Hudson needs to be updated to meet the needs of “larger size and higher volumes” of barges. It says tug boats and barges make up more than 10 times the amount of other ship traffic on the Hudson and will only grow after Congress last year lifted a 40-year-old ban on exporting domestic oil.

“Having the ability to safely anchor vessels when circumstances demand it protects the waterway, it doesn’t threaten it,” wrote executives of the United Sandy Hook Pilots’ Benevolent Association, which represents 74 pilots.

But the majority of comments came from opponents, including state lawmakers, town councils, county officials and environmental groups in New York. Many former industrial towns in the lower Hudson have transformed themselves into bedroom communities using the river as an attraction for housing, restaurants and parks.

The comment period closed in December but public meetings may soon be scheduled. The Coast Guard said they are still reviewing the comments, the number of which caught officials by surprise. If approved, anchorages wouldn’t go in until next year at the earliest, said Chief Warrant Officer Allyson Conroy, spokeswoman for the Coast Guard’s New York office.

“We have to go through 10,000 comments,” Conroy said. “That’s not an easy task and we don’t want to rush the process.”

A review of a database containing the comments did not find any New Jersey lawmaker or environmental official weighing in on the issue. The only New Jersey-based advocacy group to submit comments is the state chapter of the Sierra Club, which said the risk of a spill would be a “tragedy threatening millions of people along the river.”

Over the past three decades, New Jersey’s side of the river has seen a residential boom with mostly high-priced condominiums, townhouses and apartment buildings being built on former factories and shipyards.  The towns that make up that waterfront – Fort Lee, Edgewater, North Bergen, Guttenberg, West New York, Weehawken, Hoboken and Jersey City – have seen a population increase of more than 90,000 people from 1990 to 2015, according to the latest census data.

The “Yonkers Extension Anchorage Ground” would span 19,200 feet from Alpine in the south to just across the state line in the north. The barges would be anchored off the 117-year-old Palisades Interstate Park, whose commission told the Coast Guard that they oppose the plan.

Park officials expressed concern that the barges would be an environmental risk parked next to natural and historic landmarks. They said it would impact recreational boating from the park’s marinas in Englewood and Alpine. “We believe these anchorages will negatively impact … our mission to protect the resources we hold in public trust,” James Hall, the commission’s executive director, wrote to the Coast Guard.

Supporters say the anchorages would not be the risk that some are making them out to be, saying the anchorages are not de facto parking lots.

We “understand many local communities on the Hudson have made investments to their shoreside infrastructure to improve the quality of life for their residents,” wrote Brian W. Vahey of the American Waterways Operators. “Towing-vessel operators recognize that the Hudson River is a shared waterway, and they conduct their business in a way that is respectful of other stakeholders."

There will likely be public meetings on the issue scheduled soon, Conroy said.

Hawkins hopes it will attract more attention from New Jersey. The Hudson has had several environmental victories over the last few years from a massive cleanup of toxic PCBs to the shelving of a proposed desalination plant in Rockland County.

“It never ceases to amaze me that when one thing gets straightened out another thing comes along,” Hawkins said. “These people are pushing the limits of a river. To demean a natural heritage river for a parking lot for barges, you might as well put garbage scows on it.”