~Preventable Tragedy ~
Last month a man was killed right here in Broome County when a tractor trailer carrying compressed methane gas crashed. People within half a mile of the accident were evacuated. The highway was closed for hours.
“Obviously natural gas, as everybody knows, is very, very flammable. There’s a quarter-mile radius evacuation zone as safety, in case there was any fire or explosion that happened, we want to make sure everyone is safe and away from that,” said Mike Ponticello, Broome County Emergency Services Coordinator.
Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting called on Governor Cuomo to ban these trucks and the facilities in New York State.
“If he had heeded our warning, then there wouldn’t be a compressed natural gas facility in Herkimer County which the truck reportedly was driving to. That truck wouldn’t be in New York State,” said Hang.
This crash happened only two miles away from the site of a proposed gas storage facility and a school. Luckily the community and school district had fought to stop it.
“I don’t want to make a platform out of such a tragedy. Someone lost their life. But it does reinforce the concerns that we had as a district and as a community,” said David Gill, Chenango Valley Superintendent.
Read more about methane…
Methane: the Other Important Greenhouse Gas
Concerned Citizens of Rural Broome 