The State Pier deal will negatively impact homeland security. Here’s how.
Lack of a properly functioning State of Connecticut government that holds state officials accountable when rules and laws are broken is the biggest threat to homeland security posed by the State Pier deal.
Excluding traditional cargo from State Pier will increase traffic congestion and associated traffic fatalities and increase road/bridge wear. It will squander our ability to use State Pier to take trucks off the road, move cargo more efficiently, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and slow climate change.
Filling between the two piers will reduce the capacity to dock Navy ships and submarines in wartime. This capacity, although potentially not currently recognized as necessary, is also a physical asset that will help ward off future BRAC/Base closure efforts.
Failing to ship/warehouse food at State Pier, as pages 3-6 of the Statewide Freight Plan implores leaders to do, means we won’t have that “close-by” large-scale strategic food reserve available (during a disaster such as the coronavirus outbreak or a major hurricane).
Lack of food shipment/warehousing from State Pier, lack of ability to ship rocks, boulders, forestry products and other agricultural products out, and raw materials used in agricultural production in, will inhibit the success/growth of Northeast agriculture. Displacement of other food providers like commercial fishermen is also not good. The country needs large-scale food production capacity in the Northeast given the predictions of the major impact climate change and drought will have on current food production.
Failing to regularly ship/handle/warehouse a variety of cargo — especially containerized — means during an unexpected emergency (like coronavirus) we will not be practiced and ready to bring supplies (toilet paper and hand sanitizer at this time) into our area in bulk or ship them out to another part of the country that’s in need.
If you don’t understand the significance of this, go talk to any UPS truck driver in the state. He or she will tell you about current shortages of trucks, labor, and supplies due to the coronavirus. Use your imagination to think about a disaster where the roads were impassable and think of what a diverse flexible State Pier would mean in those times.
Exclusion of shipment of public safety products — especially road salt — which residents, contractors, municipalities, the state, and the military rely on for safe travel is obviously not good. More importantly, loss of the practical knowledge and ability of business owners like Steve Farrelly represent a threat to homeland security. There just aren’t that many men and women that have the knowledge, grit, or ability to economically move hundreds of thousands of tons of raw materials. Those are the men and women who win wars; the next time we have to fight one. The state needs to protect that knowledge and make sure it is passed on to the next generation.
I hope that people understand that these are a few of the many reasons State Pier is worth fighting over.
Kevin Blacker lives in Noank. He operates a small landscaping company and is a farmer. He has been a vocal critic of the plan to use State Pier exclusively in support of offshore wind energy development.
