To the Editor:
Residents of Barnstable, Falmouth, and Martha’s Vineyard recently wrote to the board of governors of the Steamship Authority to renew our strenuous objection to the Steamship Authority’s proposed 2024 freight operating schedule.
A petition signed by more than 100 residents has requested that the Steamship Authority conduct a public hearing per Section 15A of the Steamship Authority’s Enabling Act. Without a petition, the Steamship Authority does not provide the opportunity for a public hearing.
The following topics will be addressed during the public hearing:
- Failure of the Steamship Authority to address the health and safety impacts of the Steamship Authority’s freight truck traffic, borne by Barnstable and Falmouth residents; those impacts include sleep deprivation, diesel soot from such a high concentration of diesel trucks, freight truck and passenger bus idling at Woods Hole terminal, and the creation of unsafe conditions on our roadways; as impacted port communities irreparably harmed by the actions of the SSA, we demand that the SSA immediately revise its proposed freight schedules for 2024 to eliminate freight scheduling at 5:30 am.
- Failure of the Steamship Authority to take steps to shift non-time-sensitive Vineyard freight (landscaping materials such as sod/gravel/rocks/mulch/whole trees, septic, demolition, construction materials) to an off-Cape port as an alternative to increasing freight capacity through Cape Cod port communities; as impacted port communities we demand that the Steamship Authority launch a supplementary off-Cape marine freight service to the Islands.
- Failure of the Steamship Authority to make progress on reducing traffic backup and parking issues in Woods Hole village and in Hyannis; the SSA’s Woods Hole/Falmouth Traffic and Noise Mitigation Working Group has not been convened for over a year, since February 2022; the working group was a commitment the SSA made to the Falmouth community in its previous Section 15A report; as impacted port communities we demand that the SSA honor its commitment to the Woods Hole/Falmouth Traffic and Noise Mitigation Working Group from the SSA’s previous Section 15A report;
- The SSA has purchased three new freight vessels in the past year with larger capacity than the current freight vessels they will replace; the SSA has stated that it expects one or more of the newly acquired vessels to be in service by summer 2024; yet the SSA has not proposed to consolidate any of its freight schedules in 2024 in order to reflect the larger size of those newly acquired freight vessels; as impacted port communities we demand that the Steamship Authority consolidate its freight schedules to the Islands, given that the SSA will be using larger freight boats on its existing routes;
- Failure of the Steamship Authority to negotiate an agreement with the town of Falmouth to cap the growth of the number of freight trips it will operate from Woods Hole village (the town of Barnstable has had such an agreement in place since 1997); as impacted port communities we demand that the SSA negotiate such an agreement to cap the growth of the number of freight trips within the town of Falmouth.
The consistent failure of the SSA to consider the injurious impact of its freight schedules on Barnstable and Falmouth residents is unacceptable and must change immediately.
Nat Trumbull
Falmouth
