Tuesday, April 17, 2007

SHELL WITHDRAWS APPLICATION FOR HYDROGEN STATION IN EDGEMONT

Shell has decided to withdraw their application before the town Planning Board regarding Shell Hydrogen's proposal to install a hydrogen fueling station and visitor's center at the existing Shell service station at 1000 Central Park Ave. Shell indicated that several changes have taken place within the transportation industry.
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technology has advanced rapidly. More fuel cell vehicles are expected to be on our roads sooner than expected. The proposed Central Ave facility in Greenburgh was not capable of accomodating the number of vehicles the company now anticipates needing to serve. Many vehicle manufacturers are planning to begin operating their vehicles with hydrogen stored at higher pressure than that proposed for the project. To accomodate these changes Shell would have needed to amend their application to reflect industry requirements for increased storage and dispensing at higher pressures.
Shell is breaking ground on a project in partnership with White Plains. Last year the Greenburgh Nature Center sponsored an interesting forum on hydrogen vehicles.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's too bad. Has Greenburgh marketed other suitable locations to Shell within the town?

Anonymous said...

Journal News, 04/22/2007

"Delays with the Greenburgh Planning Board and discussions about a development moratorium on Central Avenue also influenced Shell's decision to pull out of Greenburgh, O'Leary said."

Anonymous said...

Shell is wrong to blame the planning board and the proposed moratorium which was only supposed to affect further residential development.

No, the biggest mistake Shell ever made was hiring as its lawyer a White Plains firm that had given Feiner thousands of dollars over the years in campaign contributions, and then, incredibly, having that lawyer tell an Edgemont audience that Feiner himself was backing the project.

This was the same Edgemont crowd that saw firsthand with the destruction of the trees on Round Hill Road what happens when Feiner gets big money from a developer.

Making matters worse, Shell's lawyer never understood that Feiner's support for the project would not be a selling point for Edgemont residents. In fact, his support was more like a red flag that something very bad was about to happen to their neighborhood.

Even worse for Shell and its project was the private lobbying with Edgemont residents that Feiner engaged in on Shell's behalf -- all of which backfired.

Instead of winning support for the project, Feiner's penchant for reaching out only to his political supporters -- while leaving everyone else in the cold -- just made Edgemont residents all the more fearful that Shell was planning something very bad for their neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

Well, on the bright side, we only have several more months of Feiner. It'll be nice after all these years to have Greenburgh function like a normal municipality.

Anonymous said...

Edgemont yelled the loudest again. What a pity. Just remember whatever Edgemont wants Edgemont gets.Sheehan sees to that at every chance he gets.He has taken over as commander in chief for only one area in Greenburgh. I guess many of you who voted for him, are having second thoughts.

Anonymous said...

This is not a project that died because "Edgemont yelled the loudest." Far from it.

To the contrary, ECC's president actively supported the project, as did several other Edgemont leaders.

The most vocal opposition came not from Edgemont's leaders, but from Edgemont homeowners on Clifton Road.

The project's fate was doomed when Feiner said that even if Shell didn't agree with their choice, he wanted the Clifton Road residents to be entitled to pick the "consultant" the town would hire to review Shell's application.

Shell said it would pay for the consultant but only if it was a consultant that was mutually agreeable to all sides.

Once Feiner drew that line in the sand, no consultant was ever hired, and Shell, understandably reluctant to throw good money after bad, withdraw its application.