Natural gas

headed for 

new I-park

and beyond

By Linda Lemmon

Town Crier Editor

PUTNAM --- Some of the lifeblood for the new Quinebaug Regional Technology Park will be flowing soon as Eversource will be running natural gas into the park.

Town Administrator Douglas M. Cutler said the pipeline will be expanded into the park and the Regional YMCA within the next two weeks.

The supply line has already run down Park Street and Sunset Street. 

It will then cross Kennedy Drive and the pipe will run along the structure of the new bridge, on the downstream side, into the park.

The original size of the pipeline was just enough for part of the park.

The pipeline is being expanded, he said. Eversource found that they could justify a larger pipeline by selling natural gas to other customers. 

"Eversource is upgrading its system because it can sell more," Cutler said.  

Eversource, so far, is adding natural gas to Putnam High School. 

The charge to Putnam is $429,000 for running the larger line to the tech park and the YMCA and to build the lift station. 

That lift station will be open by the time the YMCA opens, Cutler said, sometime in the spring. Originally the estimated cost of the project was $550,000.

During Phase II, next year, the line will be run to Putnam High School, he added. 

The cost of the project will be covered 75 percent by a USDA loan and the remaining 25 percent will be covered by a USDA grant, Cutler said.