Gothamist: 80,000 Gallons of Diesel Fuel on the Wall

Doctor Memory

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 07:27:33 -0500

Oh good lord, could Nadler be any more idiotic? There are dozens of telco hotels in Manhattan, each with similar amounts of fuel onsite. 60 Hudson, 111 8th Ave, 25 Broadway, AT&T's 10th avenue building... on and on and on. All of them have this in common: they are enormous, built out of reinforced concrete, and have multimillion-dollar fire supporession systems and armed security guards. If terrorists want to set Tribeca on fire, you know what they'll blow up? A gas station. Sheesh.

Jack

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 23:02:25 -0500

"Housing this much fuel in a residential area is a stupid idea, not to mention irresponsible, reckless and life threatening." Dear Mr. Nadler. Historically speaking, Tribeca was not a residential area until quite recently. And even when pioneers moved into the neighborhood back in the day it was still industrial and commercial. So this argument is ridiculous. Nadler is using the spectre of terrorism to attempt to force the building to be emptied of the fuel guzzling non-residents. I wonder if he'll try to use an eminent domain clause to attempt to force the building to go residential. Hmmm, a trend in this city it seems? Oh, and hey 7 World Trade Center collapsed mainly because... IT WAS PART OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER AREA! Fuel or not, the foundation would have gone. Regarding the safety of diesel fuel, the fuel is like molasses compared to gasoline. It is thick when cold and slightly more liquid when heated. So when cold, the "toss a match in it" thing is true. Slightly safer than gasoline, but the whole argument is crazy because technically residential buildings are more risky because of natural gas lines.

Jones

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 22:44:18 -0500

I am not a chemist or anything, but from what I have heard and read over the years, diesel is far less dangerous that gasoline. I have even heard that if you throw a match into a bucket of diesel, the match will go out! I would live in a building with lots of diesel fuel stored there without worrying about it. Gasoline and pure alcohol are dangerous liquid fuels, diesel is not.

plemeljr

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 20:17:30 -0500

Don't forget that this building is about a block away from the old Baby Bell Tower (now Verizon - I think) which handles a large chunk of tele/data switching in Manhattan.

Jen

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 16:47:06 -0500

Even eerier - I used to work with Trey back in 1998! After September 11, people who lived in parts of NJ where ATT and Bell Labs housed lots of their equipment were freaked out that they would be next target. Everyone and no one is a target.

aron

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 16:43:35 -0500

What do you think hospital generators run on? Love and good intentions? This isn't a huge problem. Also it's not one that anyone is willing to fix because there is currently no good alternative. Now we could start talking about fuel cells and such.. but last I heard they can get "blowed up real good" too.

Iwantonetoo

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 16:36:52 -0500

la lala la lala la and. I'll sing it to the sound of the smallest violin string.

Captain Midnight

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 16:12:37 -0500

Hey, if anyone wants to give up a nice 1BR in that building, I'd be happy to take it off their hands for a song.

Dave H.

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 14:26:30 -0500

From the article you linked to about carrier hotels: "This is ground zero, the nerve center for international telecom," said Trey Farmer, executive vice president of FiberNet telecom, as he guides a visitor through the routers and switches filling his company's operations center. "This is the most important carrier hotel in the world." Eerie choice of words considering the building's location and the dateline on the article is 9/6/01. And given that it's now public knowledge that there's 40,000 gallons of fuel being stored there, 60 Hudson would seem to be a valuable terrorist target.

sp

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 14:22:40 -0500

were you envisioning some sort of huge live action Donkey Kong game complete with surly italian plummers and barrel tossing gorillas?

Jen

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 13:23:55 -0500

Trucks are probably more practical, but less fun as a visual.

sp

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 13:18:53 -0500

Trucks Jen. Like barrels, but bigger, and with their own wheels.