Neighbors worry about natural gas regulator

Neighbors of a vacant lot in Uptown Kingston where Central Hudson wants to install a natural gas regulating station are worried about possible risks associated with the project.

The proposal for the station at the corner of Washington Avenue and Janet Street was discussed at Monday’s meeting of the Kingston Planning Board.

Felipa Gaudet, a neighbor of the site, said she and others want more information about the plan.

“It looks like the pipes will be about 30 feet long and two feet in diameter,” she said. “That’s pretty big, and I wonder how much volume and pressure that the pipes will be made to take.”

Gaudet also wants to know how much force would be exerted by an explosion at the site and what the impact would be on buildings and traffic.

Central Hudson said Wednesday that about 100 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per hour would pass through the line at a pressure of 1 pound per square inch.

Regulator stations like the one proposed ensure the gas system is operating at the proper pressure and volume.

Neighbor Art Haber said he suspects the regulating station will be similar to one at Emerson and Main streets, just a few blocks away.

“You can’t walk past [it] on the other side of the street ... and not smell the gas,” he said.

Haber also said the Emerson Street station “needs to be painted. It’s rusty, and they don’t take care of it.”

Central Hudson said last week that the proposed station at Washington Avenue and Janet Street would replace the one at Main and Emerson streets, which is 87 years old.

The proposed station would have both above-ground and underground equipment and would be enclosed with a 6-foot-high fence. No employees would staff the station.

Neighbor Zoe Randall said she fears the new station would reduce the values of nearby properties.

“I implore you to ask Central Hudson to find another location,” she said to the Planning Board.

Central Hudson did not have a representative at the Monday meeting, and the board agreed to delay taking any action on the proposal.

Central Hudson, based in Poughkeepsie, serves about 300,000 electricity and natural gas customers across eight counties in the MidHudson Valley.