Page 42: of Marine News Magazine (April 2017)

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PORT DEVELOPMENT

HUDSON RIVER:

A BATTLE FOR

ANCHORAGE

GROUNDS

GOES VIRAL © pingvin57/Adobe Stock

Where commercial marine and safety considerations allide with recreational and other peripheral agendas, the discus- sion can sometimes be contentious. One such example of this reality is now playing out on the Hudson River in New York.

By Tom Ewing

Credit: Bruno Bernier n June 9, 2016, the U.S. Coast Guard published a cern, much of it critical. When the public comment period three-page Federal Register notice, seeking public closed in December, the CG had received over 10,000 com- comments on a proposal suggesting new anchor- ments. U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18), whose district

O age grounds in the Hudson River, from Yonkers to Kings- straddles the Hudson, halfway between New York City and Al- ton, NY. Of? cially, this was an advance notice of proposed bany, sent a ? le with over 400 pages of constituents’ comments.

rulemaking; in other words, an action the Coast Guard was more or less thinking about, but, still an idea suf? ciently WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL? developed to check public interest and concern. Anchorage grounds are not usually contentious. And the

In fact, that three-page notice produced a landslide of con- river sections referenced within the FR notice have long been

April 2017 42 MN