This is a letter I wrote a few years ago to express concern over a proposed oil treatment facility in New Windsor, NY.
I need to write a new letter now regarding the surveying and proposed anchorages along the Hudson now under review.
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RE: Public Notice – F-2013-0928
Date: 10/2014
TO: Mr. Jeffery Zappieri & Anyone Else It May Concern,
I would like to express my deep personal concern with the inadequacies of the certification proposal put forth by the Global Companies LLC to expand the oil processing industry along the Hudson river at New Windsor.
I first became aware of the natural beauty of the Hudson river when I served aboard the Sloop Clearwater and Mystic Whaler as an educator almost ten years ago. While teaching the importance of good custodianship of our waterways to students, i also met my future wife. We now live in a small farmhouse in Garrison near the river with our one year old son. Every year, we participate in programs on the Hudson, volunteering for Riverkeepers' Riversweep, Shadfest, and of course the Clearwater Revival Festival.
Over the several years we have seen a dramatic increase in oil car transport on the Hudson. Long black trains 80-100 cars long hauling oil down the hudson river. Along with this increase we have seen a dangerous rise in the number of train related accidents involving oil transport. It seems we get weekly reports now of train derailments, and more and more, those trains are carrying Bakken crude oil.
I am concerned that there is not enough oversight in the rapid ramping-up of oil processing facilities and transport and that errors and accidents like we have been seeing in the past week alone in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Bowie, Maryland, could cause serious damage to our river and the supported ecosystems. With more and more trains, currently at least two per day, the risk of accidents increases. Unretrofitted DOT-111 rail cars have been cited as inadequate and dangerous by the NTSB; their use along the river, and anywhere is a gamble
As a concerned citizen, I do not believe a new oil facility will add to the local area as much as pose a serious risk- a time bomb waiting to explode. I do not believe the proposal fully addresses the response and recovery resources needed to mitigate a spill, explosion or fire. If an accident did occur the impact would be immense especially given the tidal flow range and current speed in the area. Peek ebb and flood tides in that area can reach over 3kts, carrying oil far up and down stream from an accident site.
Should a spill occur, the past thirty-plus years of work that Pete Seeger, the Clearwater, and countless other people have put into making the river beautiful and usable again would be lost, all in an instant. The recovery would be a long and slow process and perhaps not even fully possible. The ecosystem, which relies on the perfect balance of the elements would be shutdown and may not recover. The crude oil being carried may be of varying viscosities which would affect the biology of the rivers inhabitants. Heavy crude matter would settle on the bottom, choking any plant life that provides shelter and food for plankton and bottom feeding animals. Without these, the food chain falls apart, larger fish and and land animals that feed upon these resources would be driven out by starvation and scarcity. Imagine photo spreads on the NY Times of oil soaked water foul reminiscent of the Exxon Valdez, but of our Hudson. That would be heartbreaking.
Coastlines, and wetlands are critical in the balance of a estuarial ecosystem, and 1.4 miles of industrialized waterfront will create a huge break in that. Migration and feeding paths will be disrupted which will force animals to search for food and shelter in unexpected locations. Cutting off coastal and wetland routes would lead to increasing travel across man-made areas including roadways and residential areas.
The new proposed facility would monopolize a large expanse of waterfront property and create a new and unattractive skyline. I do not think this was fully considered in the proposal. There are thousands of people that live and recreate along the river, and the site of an oil terminal there would not send a welcoming message to residents or tourists. You don't see many people picnicking or boating around Indian Point. Technology and Industry are great, but seeing how the sausage is made, and right in their front yards is not something residents will like, nor is it something that future homeowners will desire.
Please reconsider the certification of this new facility as I feel it will only bring negative impacts to the region. This link in the virtual pipeline will invite more non-renewable energy industrialization along the Hudson valley and destroy the beauty so many have worked hard to maintain. There could never be another Hudson River School of painters if we begin filling the valley with more smokestacks and oil trains.
Please reconsider the proposal and think of the harm that statistically must happen. I have read that 99.99% of all oil transported makes it to its destination safely- I do not care to be part of, or to have not tried to stop the 0.01%. Along with hundreds of others, we participate in the annual Swim Across the Hudson which would have to cancelled when an accident happens. We are also members of the River Pool at Beacon and cannot wait to take our son there to swim in the river.
There is a new public park on the Hudson on Mine Dock Road in Fort Montgomery. From it, you can watch the oil-carrying trains make their way south carrying the ominous black tanker cars of crude oil. The park's creation is a sign that the Hudson River is now a growing force in tourism and the proof that people can make a difference in changing the course of history. Fourty years ago, masses of burning trash and chemicals used to float down the river. There would be no desire or call for a park on the water if people had not demanded change. Pete Seeger along with others started a movement to clean up the river, teaching hundreds of thousands of young people about the importance of caring for the only earth and only Hudson we will ever have. The increase in oil industry and the increased risk of permanent ecological damage to it would end decades of hard work and countless dreams.
Please consider not allowing the expansion of this or future oil manufacturing industry in the Hudson river valley.
Thank you for your kind attention.
Charles Cheadle
https://www.riverpool.org/
www.Clearwater.org
www.Riverkeeper.org
