News

Selectmen OK hydrogen storage license

By Ethan Forman
Staff writer
Published: October 14, 2008

DANVERS — Selectmen have granted a license to a Melrose business to store highly flammable compressed hydrogen gas in an above-ground storage tank to be installed outside an industrial building on Industrial Drive.

"I'm well aware of the unfortunate events in Danvers," said Stephen Ingemi, sales engineer for Ceramic-to-Metal Seals Inc., at a meeting Oct. 7. Ingemi was referring to the Danversport explosion of an ink and paint chemical plant on Water Street nearly two years ago.

Ceramic-To-Metal Seals wants to set up shop in the industrial park off Route 1 south.

The company won approval to store up to 20,000 cubic feet of the colorless, odorless and highly flammable gas in a tank at the back of the building. The company plans to store another 800 gallons of ammonia in another tank. Ingemi said the increased hydrogen storage would make things safer for the company, as the tank would be filled only once a month, cutting down on the number of deliveries, while eliminating the need to handle individual hydrogen cylinders.

Ingemi did not say when the company would be moving to town. The closest homes to the industrial park would be the new condominiums being built over the hill on Kirkbride Drive at the former Danvers State Hospital, along with residences across Route 1. Putnam Lane runs behind the industrial park.

Ingemi said the company, which would settle in the center condominium at 1 Industrial Drive, has had just two incidents reported to the Melrose Fire Department. One involved a flash fire in a beaker of acetone, a chemical found in nail polish, which was quickly extinguished. A sprinkler head also let go in the company's furnace room, Ingemi said.

Not everyone was sold on the company moving here.

"I'm very concerned about what is being discussed tonight," said former selectman and Precinct 8 Town Meeting member Mark Zuberek, who asked selectmen to reconsider, given the events in Danversport.

"Hydrogen is explosive and ammonia is poisonous," Zuberek said. Few if any residents in the area were notified of the public hearing, he added, as the abutters are all in the industrial park.

Selectmen Keith Lucy and Gardner Trask said they had confidence in Fire Chief James Tutko and Deputy Chief Kevin Farrell, noting they had learned a lot about chemical storage and safety since the blast.

Selectman Dan Bennett was concerned enough about the ammonia storage tank to vote against the license.

According to the law, the company needs a safety permit, but not a storage license, because the amount is below a certain threshold. Selectmen required the company to make sure the gates to the tanks are kept locked.