IN FLOOR SPEECH, CONGRESSMAN PAT RYAN CONTINUES PUSH TO BAN BARGES ON THE HUDSON, CALLS ON HUDSON VALLEY FAMILIES TO JOIN THE FIGHT

In Floor Speech, Congressman Pat Ryan Continues Push to Ban Barges on the Hudson, Calls on Hudson Valley Families to Join the Fight  

Ryan announces his office will be collecting public comments on the Coast Guard’s proposal to allow dangerous barges to anchor indefinitely on Hudson River

WASHINGTON, DC  – Today, in a speech on the House Floor, Congressman Pat Ryan continued his push to uphold the ban on dangerous barges, often carrying oil, asphalt, and other hazardous materials, from parking indefinitely virtually anywhere on the Hudson River. In the speech, Ryan announced his office is now collecting public comments on the Coast Guard’s proposal. Constituents can share their opinions on upholding the ban using this form on Congressman Ryan’s website. 

“Just a few years ago, a coalition led by local community leaders and nonprofits like Riverkeeper and Scenic Hudson banded together to protect our River from big corporations who were putting their profits ahead of our health and safety. I’m calling on our community to once again stand together and fight for our River” said Congressman Pat Ryan. “We’ve worked too hard for too long to let oil monopolies erase our progress just so they can make even more money. It’s up to all of us to protect our kids, our drinking water, and our entire ecosystem.” 

The entirety of Congressman Ryan’s speech is linked here. 

Last week, Congressman Ryan rang the alarm on a recent administrative change to the definition of the Port of New York that would allow barges carrying oil, asphalt, and other hazardous materials to anchor on the banks of the Hudson River. On August 4th, Congressman Ryan wrote a letter to Captain Zeita Merchant, the Sector New York Commander for the Coast Guard to demand answers and clarity on the administrative change. After a more than two month delay, Michael Emerson, the Director of Marine Transportation Systems, provided a woefully insufficient response that left the door open for dangerous oil barges to line the Hudson. 

Congressman Ryan has previously spearheaded other efforts to prevent toxic waste from being released into the Hudson River and called for polluters to bear the responsibility and cost for cleaning up their waste. Congressman Ryan demanded that Holtec halt its plan to release radioactive waste from Indian Point into the Hudson River, resulting in legislation recently passed by Governor Hochul to prevent the plan from moving forward. Congressman Ryan also called on General Electric to conduct a full clean up of its PCB pollution in the Hudson River.

Anchored barges pose a multi-layered threat to ecosystems, often carrying oil, asphalt, and other hazardous materials that can spill into the waterway, causing noise pollution from generators and causing light pollution from “stadium” lighting. The Hudson River has seen significant efforts to restore the habitats of endangered fish species which could be jeopardized by barge anchors dragging along the River bottom. Recreational boaters would be put at risk by increased commercial traffic and of greatest concern, more oil barges on the Hudson will increase the risks of a catastrophic spill. This is especially concerning to the Hudson 7, a collaboration of the mid-Hudson municipalities representing more than 100,000 people that draw their drinking water from the Hudson River.

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