To: US Coast Guard, Sector New York
US Coast Guard: Reopen the channel behind Ellis Island
In the interest of improving boater safety in New York Harbor, we the undersigned request that the US Coast Guard restore navigational access to the channel between Ellis Island and Liberty State Park.
The current safety and security zone, which prohibits passage under the Ellis Island Bridge, was put in place after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Since then, recreational use of the harbor has increased dramatically. Meanwhile access to other sensitive sites, including the World Trade Center itself, has been restored.
Reopening the channel behind Ellis Island would improve harbor safety by giving small-boat mariners the option of avoiding the tides, traffic, and rough water of the main shipping channel to the east of the island, and by reducing the opportunity for conflict with larger vessels.
In 2013, a senior officer reported that a Coast Guard inquiry into the issue found that the safety arguments outlined above outweighed security arguments for maintaining the current closure.
We understand that changing the boundaries of a security zone is a formal process that requires amending the Code of Federal Regulations. We call on the Coast Guard to begin that process this spring, before the start of the recreational boating season.
Thank you!
The current safety and security zone, which prohibits passage under the Ellis Island Bridge, was put in place after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Since then, recreational use of the harbor has increased dramatically. Meanwhile access to other sensitive sites, including the World Trade Center itself, has been restored.
Reopening the channel behind Ellis Island would improve harbor safety by giving small-boat mariners the option of avoiding the tides, traffic, and rough water of the main shipping channel to the east of the island, and by reducing the opportunity for conflict with larger vessels.
In 2013, a senior officer reported that a Coast Guard inquiry into the issue found that the safety arguments outlined above outweighed security arguments for maintaining the current closure.
We understand that changing the boundaries of a security zone is a formal process that requires amending the Code of Federal Regulations. We call on the Coast Guard to begin that process this spring, before the start of the recreational boating season.
Thank you!
Why is this important?
This petition is about restoring public access to a protected and navigationally critical part of New York Harbor that small boats could use to bypass the busy, tidally active and potentially dangerous main channel. It asks the Coast Guard to weigh very specific safety arguments against never-quite-articulated security concerns that have put this piece of public water off limits for almost 15 years.