Comment EI-16739
Received or sent (printed as 4/3/2009)
There is concern in my neighborhood about the demolition of 6 blocks of the Harsimus Branch Embankment in Jersey City, NJ. I would like to request your agency to please authorize an Environmental Impact Statement before abandonment causes severe adverse effects to Jersey City’s historic districts, landmarks, neighborhoods, and families. Abandonment will lead directly to demolition. Conrail, which has neglected this site over the decades, and their development partners, are now actively seeking permits to demolish the Harsimus Branch Embankment, in bad faith. They have also failed to submit an environmental sampling study to your agency. The effects of the demolition will negatively affect the surrounding areas in a number of ways. There will be a number of environmental justice issues, including an increased burden on water quality on combined sewers, causing a release of CSOs into the Hudson estuary; the release of contaminants, which will impact air quality; with regard to the local eco-system, there is a chance for flooding (there will be no half-mile of fill to absorb storm-water in flood plain), the destruction of the local habitat, which will negatively impact our local wildlife. Additionally, transportation will be impacted in a number of ways: there will be heavy truck traffic through our historic districts, which will cause vibrations and damage to the area’s historic buildings, a loss of grade-separated transportation structure, which is ideal for our area’s heavy traffic flow (we are located in near the Holland Tunnel, as well as near two major highways), and the loss of light freight opportunities. There is a need for a Federal Agency to enforce federal laws, rather than burdening our local government and citizens. The National Environmental Policy Act requires Federal agencies to prepare EISs for major Federal actions that significantly affect the quality of the human environment. Your organization's environmental arm is so far saying that no EIS is necessary for the Embankment. Please reconsider, and issue an Environmental Impact Statement. Thank you very much. Kim Andrews Jersey City, NJ
Submitted by: Kim Andrews · Jersey City, NJ
The Board publishes this comment in its environmental-comment table for this proceeding. It is quoted here as printed; nothing is inferred from it, and it states the commenter's own position in their own words, not this record's.
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/AB-167/sub/1189X/comment/EI-16739 · back to the docket sheet