To the Editor:
In 1962 an horrific event occurred in the Town of Berlin and made national news when a propane tanker truck lost its brakes on the Plank Road.
Today, in the Town of Berlin’s firehouse, there is a sample piece of the propane tanker truck that shows the faulty welding of the tank wall. This sample is part of several that were taken to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute metallurgical lab for testing to determine why the propane tank ruptured. The tank was supposed to be ultra-safe and was guaranteed to be Fail Safe. However, with human error, poor quality control, no serious government oversight; the impossible occurred, the tank ruptured.
Part of the Town of Berlin was instantaneously filled with a giant fog blossom of explosive propane gas. It was suppertime in this community and someone cooking supper on a gas stove or burning papers or with any open flame set this gas cloud off. It had filled every nook and cranny, including the residents homes, and when it blew it laid all four walls of some of the houses on the ground and killed some of the residents.
Both of my parents perished in this devastation, one living for two days and the other three. They were in horrific pain – a memory that has never left me. To my knowledge the driver and eleven or twelve people were also killed.
Anyone who wishes to view the sample at the firehouse should contact Ivan Wager, he was in the Berlin Fire Department when this occurred and is in charge of the display.
If the proposed Stephentown liquefied fracked gas line, under a very high pressure of 1460 PSI (pounds per square inch), were to rupture, it would create a similar cloud of gas many times larger, with devastating results. Most of the new jobs will be for morticians picking up the bodies. Our rural volunteer fire departments and rescue squads if anyone survived would be overwhelmed.
These are gigantic, foreign owned corporations, National Grid is owned by the British, New York State Electric and Gas is owned by the Spanish. Kinder Morgan plans to ship its gas product through Stephentown on its way to Boston to sell to overseas buyers. Stephentown is considered by them a wasteland. We will have to wait and see if they, the citizens of Stephentown have enough courage and community spirit to defeat this threat.
My personal concern, even though I no longer live in Stephentown, is for two of my sons, their wives and my granddaughter who all live in very close proximity to this proposed pipeline. I also have many friends and acquaintances there. We should band together and not let this giant corporation determine what should be done with our beautiful valley.
Sincerely,
Daniel McCumber
Petersburgh, NY