Hundreds turned out to try and stop a propane storage facility from moving into a Clinton neighborhood.
Residents say their safety is in jeopardy and this is the second time people told the town they don't want the facility here
They're concerned what if a high speed train crashes into a tank? What about a small plane. They are questions left unanswered Monday night.
"It's obviously a really big safety concern," said Katie McCollom, who is worried because this proposed facility where more than 500,000 gallons of propane would be stored would be steps from her Knolwood Drive home. It's where she lives with her two small children
"I'm against it being this close to residents and what that means not only for the marshland, the residents, the commercial industry in the area," McCollom added.
The area hotly protested Monday is the old Stanley Bostich plant. Hundreds packed a planning and zoning commission meeting for the second time to voice concerns about the propane unloading facility
"The residents of Clinton should not have to worry about this operation in their backyards," said Bruce Farmer of Clinton.
Joan Fabian, whose mother lives within eyesight of the plant, "I think industrial pollution is a Neanderthal step backwards."
The developer--Global Companies--tried to step forward in the process by answering some safety issues brought up last month. Safety experts addressed situations such as a truck colliding with a tank.
Doug Fountain was one of those experts who said "Yes it would move it, yes there's some possibility of breaking some pipework but you'd have automatic seal off of internal valves and there would be no breach of the tank."
Global Companies wants to bring propane in by rail to the plant and store it in 12 45,000 gallon tanks and then distribute it by truck
"Propane supply is actually quite inadequate to meet the growing demand of this critical product especially here in New England," said David Chu from Connecticut Energy Marketers Association. Global Companies is one of their clients.
But nearly everyone advocated against this Monday.
"We are a residential town on the shoreline. We're not Wallingford. We're not an industrialized town. We are a bedroom community," said Kathleen Skoczen of Clinton.
Town officials tell us there are a still a number of questions that safety experts need to look into including more on traffic in the area. As a result a third hearing will be in August.
