The new Citywide Ferry Service — which will bring six new ferry lines to Pier 11 — will also worsen Downtown’s already poor air quality, according to an environmental impact report.
BY YANNIC RACK
The new citywide ferry service set to launch next year will significantly increase air pollution at docks along the East River, according to an environmental report released by the city — especially in Lower Manhattan, where air quality is already poor.
Nitrogen dioxide emissions from ferry engines could exceed air pollution standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency at 12 docking sites, shows a draft environmental impact statement published by the Economic Development Corporation last month.
“The operation of the proposed CFS could potentially result in significant adverse impacts on air quality in some locations,” according to the report, which is available on the agency’s website. “The City has assessed potential mitigation options aimed at reducing NO2 emissions from CFS vessels, and determined that … it will not be possible to fully mitigate the potential significant impacts identified by the time of the anticipated launch in 2017.”
At the existing ferry terminal at Pier 11 on Wall Street, nitrogen dioxide levels are already high, but could reach almost six times the EPA standard for open spaces, and one-and-a-half times the national standard for residential areas, according to the report, which notes that the pollutants could also spread to residential and commercial buildings located further inland.
Short-term nitrogen dioxide exposure has been linked to respiratory illness in healthy and asthmatic people, according to the EPA.
An EDC spokesperson said this week that the additional pollutants would not negatively impact the city as a whole because the new transit system would lower emissions from other modes of transportation.
“While any new mass transit will result in some emissions, we’re proud to be using the most environmentally friendly technology available for the types of vessels needed,” said EDC spokesman Ian Fried. “Through transit alternatives like Citywide Ferry Service … we’re also helping get more New Yorkers out of their cars and on to greener modes of transportation.”
Fried also cited the city’s 2014 Community Air Survey, which noted that levels of NO2 in the Financial District — though still higher than in most other areas of the city — have been dropping over the past several years.
But environmental advocates said there is still reason to worry that the new ferry service — which would bring six new ferry routes to Pier 11, the most of any dock in the system — will worsen air quality in the Financial District, which is already the fourth-worst in the city, according to the Department of Health.
“There seem to be some exceedances anticipated in Lower Manhattan, which is very concerning,” said Maureen Koetz, an environmental lawyer and Downtown resident.
Koetz, who attended a conference on the new ferry service organized by the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance last week, added that she thought the city could have also done a better job on the impact study.
“I don’t think the environmental impact assessment did a very good job of capturing the value proposition,” she said. “If designed properly, the ferry service should actually have a net environmental value — it should be better than having trucks and cars on the road.”
The EDC report says the pollution is unavoidable, but the city will continue to look for long-term options to reduce ferry-engine emissions, such as retrofitting boats with nitrogen dioxide reduction technology or adding hybrid or all-electric ferries to the fleet.
Hornblower, the San Francisco-based company picked to run the service, said this week that it was chosen after the draft environmental impact statement was completed, and that the environmental impact would likely be less dramatic than expected anyway.
“This draft EIS assumed the worst case scenario,” said Hornblower vice president Cameron Clark, who runs the company’s New York operations. “Hornblower is proud of its history in reducing emissions and working with its partners to establish the most environmentally efficient vessels in their class.”
The city announced this March that the first routes of the ferry service would launch in June 2017, with tickets at $2.75 and free transfers to bus and subway service.
The extended ferry routes include existing East River stops, as well as new ones in Far Rockaway, Bay Ridge, the Brooklyn Army Terminal, Red Hook, Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6, Governors Island, Grand St., Stuyvesant Cove, East 62nd St., East 90th St., Long Island City, Astoria, Roosevelt Island and Soundview.
The city is holding a range of public hearings on the environmental report in the coming weeks, including one at 110 William St. at 6 p.m. on Thursday May 19.
Comments can also be submitted directly to the EDC (Attn: Dina Rybak, Assistant Vice President, 110 William St., New York, New York 10038, citywideferryeis@edc.nyc) and the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability (Attn: Denise Pisani, Senior Project Manager, 253 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, New York 10007, (212) 676-3290, dpisani@cityhall.nyc.gov).
