A View From The Hook: STOP THE CHOP : Rally to End Tourist Helicopter Noise in Brooklyn - Sunday, 1pm. Pier 6

Friday, May 13, 2011

STOP THE CHOP : Rally to End Tourist Helicopter Noise in Brooklyn - Sunday, 1pm. Pier 6

(Image from Word On Columbia Street blog)

I tweeted about this event earlier (follow me on Twitter here). Sometimes I don't get a chance to write posts on this blog on issues relating to the neighborhood in a timely manner, but if it's a matter of importance, I will at least try to tweet. See the sidebar of this blog for my Twitter feed.

Check my previous post and this comprehensive story (here) from the South Brooklyn Post for more details regarding the helicopter issue.

The Word On Columbia Street blog has the details of the rally - here they are.

Join State Senator Squadron, Congressman Nadler, Congresswoman Velazquez, State Senator Montgomery, Assemblywoman Millman, Councilmember Levin and Councilmember Lander

at a

Rally to End Tourist Helicopter Noise in Brooklyn

Sunday, May 15 - 1:00PM

Pier 6 Brooklyn Bridge Park

(at the end of Atlantic Avenue)

Join your neighbors, community leaders and local elected officials to rally to end all tourist helicopter flights from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport. Brooklynites from DUMBO to Red Hook have put up with this nuisance for too long!

Rain or Shine!

Questions? - please contact

Senator Squadron's Office

718-875-1517 or adelisi@nysenate.gov

Follow the issue further at "Redhook Noisecopters" Facebook page - here

*

1 comment:

AnonymousMay 21, 2011 at 11:56 AM
I wish I had known about this rally. The helicopter problem started years ago for the Upper West Side but now is INSANE!! Today has to be a record for traffic up and down the Hudson river. Pray for rain!

Choppers go up the West Side one after another often turning at ridiculous angles - thrills equals better tips for pilot, right?

Why is this allowed?
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Quote from Bob Foster, the Mayor of Long Beach, California - "We’re not going to have kids in Long Beach contract asthma so someone in Kansas can get a cheaper television set.”

A docked cargo ship can burn seven tons of diesel fuel a day to run its electrical generators.
Ports along the lower Mississippi River, the New York metro area, and in south Texas rank among those with the dirtiest air.
Surrounding communities and port workers often have higher rates of respiratory infections and a higher risk of cancer. - Wall Street Journal

A Cruise Ship in Port for 1 day = 12, 400 cars - Bluewater Network / via CNN

Chris Ward, Executive Director, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey : "We estimate that the annual health benefits emissions reductions arising from a switch from on board generation to shore power at the BCT (Brooklyn Cruise Terminal), adjusted for Kings County, approaches $9 Million" (full statement here)

During a typical 10-hour stay in harbor, one single cruise liner produces about 66 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of what 6 Hummers produce in a year - Cruise Liners: A Lucrative But Poisoning Business - Malta Today

A "parked cruise ship idling its engines" burns "700 litres (180 gallons) of unfiltered diesel an hour" - EGRA, East Greenwich Residents Association

Plugging a container ship in to shore-power "takes enough pollution out of the air to equal 33,000 cars” - Mayor Bob Foster

Ships are “floating smokestacks that deliver soot and smog straight into the heart of our most crowded coastal cities” - Environmental Defense Fund

From our own Federal Government - via the Environmental Protection Agency - the E.P.A.

a. Shore power is a crucial step for cleaning our air and improving health of New Yorkers.
b. Ocean going vessels that dock in New York City typically burn high sulfur fuel in diesel engines to generate auxiliary power.
This combustion results in exhaust containing NOx, SOx and particulates and such exhaust is a likely carcinogen.
A Port Authority study shows that use of shore power at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal would annually eliminate 100 tons of NOx, 100 tons of SOx and 6 tons of particulates
c. New York City air quality is among the worst in the nation and port related emissions are meaningful and avoidable."
d. Such air emissions are harmful to the pubic generally, and especially to our children, the elderly, people with lung disease, those who exercise outside, and low-income and minority communities located near ports.
e. Implementation of a shore power tariff is consistent with economic development in New York City.
f. Implementation of an appropriate Shore Power Tariff in New York City would provide an impetus for ship owners to invest in ship-side Shore Power equipment and for widespread use of this technology in other ports on the East Coast.
g. None of the Company's tariff's accurately account for the unique service characteristics of ships that dock in New York City.
h. A high-rate setting working group charged with delivering a shore power recommendation should be convened quickly.