Amanda Purcell reports for Columbia-Greene Media that on Oct. 2 the Livingston Planning Board is expected to vote on a special use permit for the proposed Global Partners gas station at the northern corner of the intersection of Routes 9, 9H, 23, and 82. The gas station would replace an Xtra Mart already at the Bell’s Pond intersection, but opponents of the plan say the new gas station would negatively affect nearby wetlands. Now Assemblyperson Didi Barrett, a Democrat who represents southern Columbia County and the 106th District in the state legislature, has waded in to the controversy. “Bell’s Pond is a New York State-protected wetland, identified by DEC’s Riparian Opportunity Assessment as ‘significantly stressed,’” a letter from Barrett reads. “The proposed project increases the risk of groundwater contamination, and runoff into Bell’s Pond, and the Hudson River tributary, Mud Creek.” The Livingston Planning Board meeting begins at 7 p.m., Oct. 2 at the Livingston Town Hall, 119 County Route 19. While Global Partners can continue to speak before the board at this meeting, the public cannot. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.