text: Hudson River anchorages proposal concerns Kingston Sailing Club – Daily Freeman
  Hudson River anchorages proposal concerns…
  PUBLISHED: August 13, 2016 at 12:43 p.m. | UPDATED: July 21, 2021 at 8:58 a.m.
  KINGSTON, N.Y. >> A proposal for three Hudson River anchorage sites near Rhinebeck, Kingston and Port Ewen could disrupt long-standing Kingston Sailing Club events that have attracted water craft enthusiasts from around the country.
  Club officials filed comments with the U.S. Coast Guard saying the choice of locations – which among 10 new parking lots proposed for barges and tugs – should be reconsidered as safety and security risks.
  Club officials in the letter contend the barges represent a terrorist security risk.
  "It is curious that Homeland Security would not have its own concerns about fuel-laden barges along the river creating an exponentially dangerous terrorist target hazard where currently none exist," they wrote. "Deploying a drone weapon over open water … (and) dropping it over anchored fuel barges increases the damage a hundredfold."
  Kingston Sailing Club events are conducted between May and October. Because the anchorages would extend half-way into the river, other boat owners also are expected to be affected.
  "Returning nighttime vessels from the south line up with the buoys … that leads the vessels straight to the entrance of the Rondout Creek," they wrote. "Having four barges stationed through the night at Big Rock and another at the entrance to the creek physically blocks that line of sight and creates visual confusion with competing light sources on the river."
  Coast Guard officials in January received requests for the anchorages from the Maritime Association of the Port of NY/NJ Tug and Barge Committee, the Hudson River Port Pilot's Association, and the American Waterways Operators.
  A Sept. 7 deadline has been set for public comments at http://bit.ly/29pUnbV.
  A request to extend the public comment and conduct hearings has been made by U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats.
  "Due to the proposal's demographic reach, lack of public knowledge and significance, both in safety and potential impacts, we strongly believe … it is in the best interest to extend the deadline and conduct public hearings in order (to) give the concerned public an opportunity to impact the proposal before any final decisions are made," the senators wrote.
  Coast Guard officials have said public hearings are expected to be scheduled in 2017 after rules are developed for use of the anchorage sites.
  In a recent interview, Edward Kelly, the executive director of the Maritime Association of the Port of New York/New Jersey, said it is unlikely that people will notice any difference in the number of barges and tugs anchored in the proposed sites. He noted the locations are used now as informal anchorage sites.
  "In one to five years, there would be no appreciable change," he said.
  "There are normal fluctuations seasonally," Kelly said. "From year to year, baring any really tremendously unusual change in America's energy pricing, I would anticipate a less than 5 percent change year to year, and that could be in an up or down direction. In other words, a minimal impact, there would be virtually no change over probably the next five years."