A bill introducing state oversight of attractions such as the Lockport Cave and Underground Boat Ride has now been signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The bill, which was passed by the State Legislature last week, will see Lockport Cave and similar attractions that operate in private or public non-navigable underground waterways be subject to annual vessel inspections by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
“Following last year’s tragic accident in the Lockport Caves, I championed legislation to help prevent future tragedies and protect boat passengers,” Hochul said in a statement. “By signing this legislation into law, we are ensuring that we have the necessary oversight authority to keep New Yorkers and tourists safe.”
The law goes into effect just days after the one-year anniversary of the fatal incident last June in which the boat that’s a key part of the Lockport Cave tour overturned inside the “cave,” an old hydraulic tunnel, and flipped all 29 riders into cold water. One passenger, 65-year-old Harshad Shah, was trapped underneath the boat and died.
In the wake of the incident, state Sen. Robert Ortt, R-North Tonawanda and Assemblymember Michael Norris, R-Lockport introduced their own iteration of the legislation after it was determined that there was no agency responsible for “regularly” inspecting the boat used in the Lockport Cave’s tours.
It was Hochul’s iteration of the bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Jose Serrano, D-South Bronx and Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell, D-Manhattan, and co-sponsored by Ortt and Norris respectively, that passed through the state legislature.
“Previously, (the attraction) sort of fell in this legal gray hole when it came to who has oversight to inspect non-navigable waterways,” Ortt said during a Wednesday press conference in Lockport. “Our bill would have also identified Parks as the oversight agency, but we went with more of an amusement and attraction definition… I think functionally, it has the same practical effect.”
During the Wednesday press conference — held one year to the day since the Lockport Cave boat capsized — Ortt also said that he had a conversation with ownership of the attraction “several months ago” and the ownership indicated they do not plan to operate the boat ride this year.
The attraction had reopened briefly, for walking tours only, last year following the incident. There are no indications of potential operations this year on its Facebook page or website.
Following a five-month investigation by the Lockport Police Department, with assistance from federal and state authorities, Police Chief Steven Abbott said no sufficient evidence was turned up to justify any criminal charges over the incident.
According to the state Parks office, whose Vessel Incident Analyses Team was called in by LPD, floatation devices attached to the boat were “compromised” — the devices had been punctured by screws — leading the team to conclude the boat had taken on water and leaned to the right, which is the side of the boat that flipped.