60 Hudson St. diesel ruling fuels concern

Volume Number 1 Issue Number 4 | October 20 - 26, 2006

This week’s decision by the Board of Standards and Appeals to legalize the illegal storage of diesel fuel at 60 Hudson St. in Tribeca highlights the desperate need for the city to take a first look at how best to regulate telecom buildings. That was the reaction of the group that led the fight against the building, Neighbors against NOISE, which is right once again.

A front-page New York Times article four years ago led to the revelation of the illegal diesel fuel storage at 60 Hudson St. The diesel is for the backup generators needed in telecoms — buildings where telecommunications and Internet companies have switching facilities.

The Department of Buildings has not revealed any other building locations where diesel is stored. But the agency’s disturbing behavior at 60 Hudson St. should be a wakeup call to everyone that this issue can’t be ignored any longer.

However, we know there are other buildings in the city that, like 60 Hudson, store diesel as protection against blackouts. Among them is 111 Eighth Ave. in Chelsea, the square-block former Port Authority building in which Google has just leased 300,000 square feet of space, and which is a so-called Tier 1 “telecom hotel” — a major Internet and telecom switching facility.

The fear is of an uncontrollable, raging diesel-fueled fire breaking out at any one of these telecom buildings. The risk was brought to light when 7 World Trade Center — where diesel fuel was stored for former Mayor Giuliani’s command center — burned and collapsed on 9/11. The diesel tanks there were blamed for the collapse, after which the fuel continued to contribute to the smoldering fires at Ground Zero that persisted long after the attack.

We’re glad Lower Manhattan City Councilmember Alan Gerson and several of his colleagues are beginning to explore legislation to recognize the reality that telecom buildings are not like commercial office buildings and need different zoning laws. The question of how and if buildings with large amounts of diesel can safely exist in residential neighborhoods needs to be debated vigorously in the Council. Council Speaker Christine Quinn, representing Chelsea and the Village, should make it clear immediately that this is a front-burner issue — no pun intended we assure you.

The B.S.A. approached the 60 Hudson St. issue with healthy skepticism at the beginning, but the board’s fairness came into serious question a few weeks ago when it agreed to a private tour of the building with the owner without inviting any N.A.N. representatives

It is our hope the safety precautions implemented by Buildings and 60 Hudson’s owner will be enough, but given their record of the last few years, we have reason to be doubtful. We do expect the Council to move quickly and carefully on figuring out how to protect New York neighborhoods with telecom hotels in their midst.