Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan Thursday praised Gov. Andrew Cuomo for taking steps to protect New York waterways, including the Hudson River, during crude oil transportation. Sullivan reacted to the governor’s new executive order instructing state agencies to immediately review safety procedures and regulations to protect communities and natural resources.

Cuomo acted after serious accidents involving the transportation of extremely flammable crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields. The port of Albany handles about 40,000 carloads of Bakken crude oil, some of it subsequently shipped along the Hudson.

“The Hudson River and Hudson Valley, its people, and the natural resources we treasure are at risk every day to the potentially devastating impacts of a crude oil spill from the rail and oil tankers” going through river towns, Sullivan said. “Both federal and state agencies and our city and town emergency response departments are underprepared to respond adequately to a spill into the Hudson or an accident in one of our communities. Gov. Cuomo’s comprehensive executive order is just the action needed to mobilize state agencies to evaluate these risks and to recommend actions that will strengthen our readiness to respond.”

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