We Are Seneca Lake

Protecting Finger Lakes communities from Crestwood's Gas Storage Facility
  • Home
  • Join Us
    • Pledge to Protect Seneca Lake
  • The Seneca Lake Defenders
  • Petition
  • Press Release
    • Press Kit (pre Dec 2014)
  • Media
    • Brochure
    • Resources
    • The Ballad of Seneca Lake
    • Jail Writings from Seneca Lake Defenders
  • Video
    • Jail Guides
    • Other Videos
  • Brochure
  • Newsletter
  • Letters to Elected Officials
  • FAQ
    • Brochure
    • FAQ
    • About Crestwood
    • Seneca Lake 12

Urgent, Rapid Response Needed – Send a Message to FERC!

 Media  Comments Off on Urgent, Rapid Response Needed – Send a Message to FERC!
Jan 292016
 

GREEN LIGHT MESSAGE – SHARE FAR AND WIDE!

Urgent, Rapid Response Needed – A Short Weekend Homework Assignment

Dear Seneca Lake Defenders,

We have just learned that Crestwood’s subsidiary, Arlington Storage, has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a two-year extension on their methane storage expansion project at Seneca Lake. (The original order expires on May 15th.) This provides us with a golden opportunity—with an extremely short window—to get FERC to deny this request and, hence, stop the project in its tracks, but we need your immediate help.

FERC’s approval of Crestwood/Arlington’s plan to greatly expand methane (natural gas) storage in the Seneca Lake salt caverns was, as you will recall, the trigger for We Are Seneca Lake’s campaign in October 2014. To date, Crestwood/Arlington has not broken ground on that project. But the federal permission that it has to get its project up and running comes with a deadline. Unless the company can secure an extension, the expiration date is May.

Please note that the Arlington project is specific to natural gas (methane). This does not directly affect Crestwood’s other project, which seeks approval for the storage of LPG (propane and butane), for which FERC is not involved.

FERC could approve Arlington’s request as early as this coming Monday, so we need to act quickly. We have a two-pronged approach that requires hundreds of us to act—and act without delay. Thus, your two-part homework assignment:

  1. Call Governor Cuomo. Ask him to tell FERC to NOT issue a 2-year extension to Crestwood’s Subsidiary, Arlington Storage, for their natural gas expansion project on Seneca Lake. Dial 1-518-474-8390. Choose option 3 to talk to a live person. (Expanded talking points below.) Calls are already streaming in to the Governor’s office, and we must keep the pressure up all weekend and on Monday too. After business hours and on the weekend, you can leave phone messages.
  1. Flood FERC with your own comments. Submit comments electronically into the docket Arlington Storage Company, LLC,

Docket No. CP13-83-000. Ask FERC to deny Arlington’s application for a 2-year extension to construct expanded gas storage on Seneca Lake.

 Your comments need to be submitted right into the docket. That takes a few steps, but it’s not difficult. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Write your letter using your word processor (MS Word, etc) or a text file. (See talking points below for ideas of what you might say.)

Step 2: Go to FERC’s web site: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ecomment.asp

Step 3: Click anywhere in the box that says “eComment: Does not require eRegistration” (The “eComment” text has a bright orange background).

Step 4: Fill out the form with your name, address, etc. FERC will send you an email message.

Step 5: Go to your email app. Open the message from FERC (“FERC eComment Request” is the subject line”.)

Step 6: Click on the link in FERC’s message.

Step 7: You’ll see the information you entered earlier (name, address, etc). Paste the text of the letter you wrote into the empty text box at the bottom of the form.

Talking Points for Call and Comment Writing

We know weekend time is precious, so we’ve provided talking points to prime the pump and make your comment writing easier. First, tell FERC clearly what you want it to do; namely,

  • Request that FERC deny Arlington Storage Company LLC an extension for their methane storage expansion project.

Then provide a reason why FERC should do this. Choose any one or two of the reasons below or provide your own. Keep in mind that your comments must be specific to salt cavern storage of methane (natural gas). LPG storage or transportation is not relevant here.

If you have already written a statement as a defender, please feel free to include it! If you have ever written a letter to the editor or explained why you oppose natural gas storage expansion, you can re-use it. Otherwise here are nine possible ideas. Again, choose just one or two and put them in your own words.

  1. Arlington has had plenty of time to ensure that it could meet its construction deadline of May 15, 2016, but instead, sat on its rights. Arlington has not shown good cause why it should be granted another two years to construct a facility that was authorized almost two years ago. Arlington has been on notice since May 15, 2014, that it was required to put its facility into service by May 15, 2016, and yet has taken no meaningful steps to initiate construction. The Commission should hold Arlington to the stated terms of the Certificate Order.
  1. Market conditions have changed. We now have a glut of gas, and natural gas prices have plummeted. The area around the storage project has not experienced the price spikes that allegedly justified expansion of Arlington’s facility. Therefore, the need assessment FERC did in 2014 is no longer valid, and the project is no longer “in the public convenience and necessity.” Arlington is not entitled to keep the project in the pipeline in the hope that market conditions will change. The fact that the market may be more favorable sometime in the next two years is not “good cause” for extending the deadline for Arlington’s project. There is currently no genuine demand for Arlington’s product, which is a clear indication that “public convenience and necessity” do not justify this project.
  1. The community does not want the project. 31 municipalities, representing 1.2 million New York residents, have passed resolutions opposing hydrocarbon storage on the shores of Seneca Lake. Say why you personally don’t want it.
  1. Given both the community’s concerns, and the lack of need for more storage, the project cannot be said to be in the public interest.
  1. If Arlington wants another two years to build this project, FERC should deny the extension, rescind the order authorizing construction, and Arlington should start the application process over again. There’s a reason there’s a time limit on FERC’s orders.
  1. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and contributes to the destruction of our climate. Since Arlington received its original approval, all the nations of the world have agreed to move away from fossil fuels as part of the Paris Agreement. More new natural gas infrastructure takes us in the wrong direction.
  1. Underground storage of natural gas is inherently dangerous, as illustrated by the ongoing disaster in Porter Ranch, California at the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility. Storing gas in salt caverns is relatively rare and has a bad track record. There is an unacceptable history of leakage, collapse or explosion, as in, for example, Hutchinson, Kansas and Livingston County, New York.
  1. This project is located in the wrong place. Seneca Lake is a source of drinking water for 100,000 people. Arlington wants to increase gas storage—a seven-fold increase of capacity—on the banks of Seneca Lake, only a few hundred yards from the lake’s shoreline and less than 5 miles north of Watkins Glen, which is visited by over half a million tourists annually, and on the western Seneca Wine Trail. Arlington’s plan would snarl the wine trail with industrial-scale traffic.
  1. This project threatens the Finger Lakes’ sustainable economy based on tourism and recreation that brings over $4.8 billion annual revenue to NY State.
 Posted by Mariah Plumlee at 6:51 pm

Charges Dismissed ‘In the Interest of Justice’ for 42 Seneca Lake Gas Storage Protesters

 Media  Comments Off on Charges Dismissed ‘In the Interest of Justice’ for 42 Seneca Lake Gas Storage Protesters
Mar 192015
 

senecalake650

Charges Dismissed ‘In the Interests of Justice’ for 42 Seneca Lake Gas Storage Protesters
Mariah Plumlee | March 19, 2015 10:57 am | Comments

[Author’s Note: As this goes to press, Reverend Nancy Kasper’s charges were dismissed in the interest of justice. She was one of 42 dismissals at the Reading Town Court on March 18.  Reverend Kasper will still go to trial for her second arrest.]

It was 4 degrees on February 23, on the drive from Mecklenburg to the Reading Town Court. It had become a familiar route. Since October, I’ve been part of a local movement protesting the expansion of gas storage beside Seneca Lake by a company called Crestwood Midstream. The argument is a familiar one. People against the expansion cite environmental concerns: unstable caverns with a history of collapse, air quality issues and their associated health risks, increased train and truck traffic. Local winemakers are concerned about their grapes, being sullied by an industry known for its cavalier destruction.

To date, there have been 216 arrests at the gates of Crestwood. Since November, I have watched musicians, professors, nurses, teachers, bakers, chefs, psychologists, farmers, philosophers, business owners, winemakers and parents face charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct at the Reading Town Court. It is, my husband says, my miniseries.

The best part of the drive is heading west on 79 out of Burdett when the lake just appears. Boom. Like a guy jumping out of a cake. I grew up downstate, in a family that eschewed fresh water for salt. I find it hard to trust water that doesn’t move with the moon. (I once burst into tears at a gas station in Queens because I could smell the ocean). My children, however, were born here. Ignorant of sand up their swimsuits, or being caught in a dead man’s roll, they make piles of shale on Lodi Point every summer, squawking with excitement when a boat goes by, and for a moment, there is a wave. They are lake people. Headed down the hill, the lake was on my right, massive and unapologetic. It was so cold I was driving with my gloves still on.

Today was Reverend Nancy Kasper’s trial. She pled not guilty at her arraignment, and chose to go to trial with a public defender. For a violation, there is no jury, just the judge, which I have learned, is called a bench trial. The deputy at the door of the courthouse asked me if I was there for an arraignment or if I was ‘just visiting”. This is the euphemism he uses every time he sees me, though I am attending a public trial, in a public building. Then it was time for the search. I held my arms out in a T, and told him I’d left my phone in the car. We both agreed that I didn’t have any weapons or bombs on me. He outlined my down coat with the metal detector, and it beeped its assent. All I had on me were mechanical pencils.

I’ve been attending these court proceedings for two reasons. One: moral outrage. Jamming fracked gases into unstable caverns under one of the biggest sources of freshwater in the state, in the heart of a thriving, award winning wine industry is madness. Two: Gratitude. I came of age in a world without trustworthy role models. My heart has grown three sizes watching the people here stand up to defend their home, their water. They have given me the beginnings of faith. So I show up.

There were a handful of people in the courtroom: a few Seneca Lake Defenders that I knew; Barry Moon, the director of operations at Crestwood; and a young man in a dark suit and hair product sitting beside him. He never identified himself.

Wesley Roe, Reverend Kasper’s public defender, started things off by reminding Judge Berry that he had passed a motion requesting an expert witness. His argument, he said, was two-pronged. One, the Reverend had acted on a belief of imminent harm, and two, that harm was real. In order to show this, he said specific testimony was necessary from an expert witness.

John Tunney, the assistant District Attorney, took issue with Mr. Roe’s request, saying, “justification is not an applicable defense.” The question, he said, was not why the defendant had trespassed, but whether or not she had trespassed. Judge Berry said he agreed with ADA Tunney and that there would be no expert witness.

Judge Berry went on to say that in his understanding the application for construction of a compressor station had not yet been approved by the DEC. Roe reminded him that FERC had approved Crestwood’s request to expand their current methane storage to 2 billion cubic feet last summer. Judge Berry still would not allow the expert witness.

Mr. Tunney called Barry Moon and Deputy Eberhardt to testify. Mr. Moon, who is the Director of Operations at Crestwood, has worked for the company for the last 27 years, since they were Bath Petroleum. He is familiar with the physical plant, and involved with the wells and layout of salt and gas facilities. He told us about the NO TRESPASSING signs at the site and that the protestors did not have Crestwood’s permission to be on the property. He was working at the brine field on November 19, 2014, when he was informed that the gate was being blocked. He made the official complaint to the police that resulted in Rev. Kasper’s arrest, among others. This was my first time seeing Barry Moon in the flesh. He wore a striped shirt and corduroy pants. He was unassuming and polite while on the stand. I wondered what he really thought about all of this.

Deputy Eberhardt described the scene at the site of the arrest and identified Rev. Kasper as one of the people blockading the south gate. Mr. Roe asked him if the blockaders were doing any harm. Mr. Tunney objected to that line of questioning. Mr. Roe was finally allowed to ask Mr. Eberhardt if the protestors had been compliant. “Did they resist? Were they reasonable? Did they answer your questions?” They had not resisted, they were compliant.

Reverend Kasper testified on her own behalf. Tall and neatly dressed, she spoke calmly with clarity. She said she was compelled as a mother and as a citizen of this planet to protect our future. She spoke of mass extinctions and environmental degradation, about being a minister, and the harm that she has witnessed to the earth over the course of her lifetime. She said she put her body in the way of progress, that … But Tunney stopped her before she was finished, saying, “I have tried to be indulgent. I understand the point. It is not unfounded. I am objecting on the subject of relevance.” The only thing that mattered, he argued, was that she admitted to trespassing. Mr. Roe urged Judge Berry to dismiss the charges in the interest of justice. Mr. Tunney insisted that was a pretrial motion and couldn’t be requested now. Mr. Roe objected to the preclusion of his expert witness and asked again how imminent harm could possibly be irrelevant. He got no answer from Judge Berry.

The court was adjourned. I asked Mr. Tunney to explain his argument about the justification defense not being relevant. He said in Section 35 subdivision 2 of the Penal Code it says that under certain circumstances criminal conduct may be justified and reasonable and necessary to avoid imminent harm, such as a man breaking into a house that is on fire to save a child’s life. As an example, he mentioned a case down state where some people had blocked a bulldozer in an attempt to save a park from destruction, but they did so 7 hours before the demolition was to begin. They could have used those 7 hours to call a lawyer and get an injunction, Mr. Tunney explained to me, so they therefore could not use the justification defense. Rev. Kasper’s case was even more pronounced, he said, as it had been several months since her arrest, with no new developments at the construction site.

I drove back the way I had come, my face smarting from the short walk to the car. The wind had picked up, and the air was exquisitely painful. The lake was on my left now. Tidal or not, the sight of all water was comforting. Still a liquid, holding strong at 32 degrees. A warm spot. A 600-foot deep, forty-mile long warm spot. Even now, in this harsh winter, the lake was moderating the climate for us. A miracle.

‘I have tried to be indulgent,’ Tunney had said, as he interrupted Nancy. I have indulged many a toddler in my career, and I know that telling them they are being indulged is the final flourish on the manipulation. He didn’t have to let her talk about why she trespassed, but he did. For a little while.

State Route 14 south merged from two lanes into one and I eased in behind a truck. It was hard to keep my attention on the road, rendered a gray by the salt, boring compared to the shifting textures and tones out on the lake. There was wind out there, slicing the water into pieces of light. I ran through the words for blue that I knew: Cobalt. Cerulean. Aegean. Azure. Ultramarine. Sapphire. Lapis. None of them were accurate enough for what I saw. Take all the words for blue, put them into a kaleidoscope, look straight into a cold sun. That’s what color it was.

I thought about Mr. Tunney’s definition of imminent harm, how small it was. Nancy Kasper, on the other hand, made the issue big. Big like the lake is big. She had big reasons for risking arrest. Our water, our soil, is at the very root of what this place is, and why we are able to live here. Tunney said our concerns weren’t unfounded. Why isn’t he fighting for us? Why is the DA’s office protecting an industry that considers the lake, the grapes, and the farms an insubstantive issue?

Of the 216 arrests that have occurred, Reverend Kasper’s trial is the first. She is the first voice of many to publically stand trial in an attempt to protect their home, their water. They aren’t going to stop, those clear, calm voices. The water was still on my left as I put my Subaru in fourth to get up the hill. Soon it would be behind me, just out of sight.

 

 

 Posted by Mariah Plumlee at 5:31 pm  Tagged with: Arlington Gas Storage Co. LLC, Barry Moon, charge dismissal, Crestwood Midstream, Ecowatch, FERC, Gas Free Seneca, historical dismissal, in the interest of justice, John Tunney, Judge Raymond Berry, liquid propane storage, LPG facility, LPG is good for me, Mariah Plumlee, Methane Storage, Nancy Kasper, natural gas, Non Violent Direct Action, Salt Caverns, Sandra Steingraber, Schuyler County, Schuyler County District Attorney, Town of Reading, unlined salt caverns, We Are Seneca Lake, Wesley Roe

Charges dismissed for We Are Seneca Lake protesters

 Media  Comments Off on Charges dismissed for We Are Seneca Lake protesters
Mar 192015
 
senecalake.jpg

(Photo: SIMON WHEELER / Staff Photo)

Kelsey O’Connor, koconnor@ithacajournal.com | @ijkoconnor 9:24 a.m. EDT March 19, 2015

Charges dismissed for We Are Seneca Lake protesters

A number of area residents who have been protesting gas storage in Seneca Lake salt caverns had charges dismissed Wednesday night in the Town of Reading Court.

Judge Raymond Berry dismissed all charges against the 42 protesters, according to a news release from We Are Seneca Lake.

People from all over the region have held ongoing protests at the gates of Crestwood Midstream in the Town of Reading Schuyler County for about five months. Protesters have included local winemakers, teachers, students and musicians.

According to We Are Seneca Lake, in an agreement with the Schuyler County District Attorney’s office, the charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct will also be dismissed against about 100 additional people whose cases were pending.

In the past, protesters have criticized Berry for handing down maximum sentences.

The defendants who appeared before Berry on Wednesday submitted an oral motion asking for their charges to be dismissed. Their statement read:

“We only have this planet. We must safeguard it for those who follow. Would that it not be necessary, but sometimes citizens of good conscience must engage in non-violent acts of civil disobedience to protect that sacred trust. As long as Crestwood Midstream Partners, or any other corporate or public or private entity, continues to threaten our way of life by the proven dangerous storage of highly compressed gas in the crumbling caverns at the Salt Point facility, I reserve the right to act as my conscience dictates in order to protect Seneca Lake, its citizens, and the surrounding environment. I reserve all rights to protest further at the Crestwood facility, although it is not my intent at this time to break the law in doing so.”

Assistant District Attorney John Tunney expressed his willingness to accept a motion to dismiss after each recitation, members of We Are Seneca Lake stated.

Sujata Gibson, a defense attorney who has worked with the protesters since December, said the motion dismissals were a historic move that affirms the importance of the protesters.

“We’ve seen a sea change in the way the court and the prosecutors have reacted to our cases — from maximum sentences for jail terms for trespassing violations to large-scale offers to support dismissals in the interests of justice. This is a testament to the sincerity and passion of the protesters,” Gibson stated in a press release.

Protesters that had motions dismissed Wednesday:

•Judy Abrams, 66, Trumansburg, Tompkins County;

•Edgar Brown, 60, Naples, Ontario County;

•Carolyn Byrne, 38, Ithaca, Tompkins County;

•Deborah Cippola-Dennis, 49, Dryden, Tompkins County;

•Joanne Cippola-Dennis, 53, Dryden, Tompkins County;

•Lyndsay Clark, 53, Springwater, Livingston County;

•James Connor, 83, Mecklenburg, Schuyler County;

•Doug Couchon, 64, Elmira, Chemung County;

•Kim Cunningham, 58, Naples, Ontario County;

•John Dennis, 63, Lansing, Tompkins County;

•Michael Dineen, 65, Ovid, Seneca County;

•Peter Drobney, 56, Corning, Steuben County;

•Martha Ferger, 90, Dryden, Tompkins County;

•Richard Figiel, 68, Hector, Schuyler County;

•Carrie Fischer, 38 Fayette, Seneca County;

•Kenneth Fogarty, 75, Guilford, Chenango County;

•Lynn Gerry, 58, Watkins Glen, Schuyler County;

•Heather Hallagan, 41, Meckenburg, Schuyler County;

•Carey Harben, 47, Hector, Schuyler County;

•Nancy Kasper, 56, North Rose, Wayne County;

•Sharon Kahkonen, 65, Mecklenburg, Schuyler County;

•Crow Marley, 55, Hector, Schuyler County;

•Faith Meckley, 20, Geneva, Ontario County;

•Kelly Morris, 55, Danby, Tompkins County;

•Paul Passavant, 48, Geneva, Ontario County;

•Kirsten Pierce, 44, Burdett, Schuyler County;

•Mariah Plumlee, 35, Covert, Seneca County;

•Leslie Potter, 70, Big Flats, Chemung County;

•Dan Rapaport, 54, Newfield, Tompkins County;

•Stephanie Redmond, 38, Ithaca, Tompkins County;

•Rick Rogers, 66, Spencer, Tioga County;

•Cat Rossiter, 62, Sayre, Bradford County;

•Laura Salamendra, 30, Geneva, Ontario County;

•Coby Schultz, 54, Springwater, Livingston County;

•Elan Shapiro, 67, Ithaca, Tompkins County;

•Brion Seime, 42, Newfield, Tompkins County;

•Stefan Senders, 55, Hector, Schuyler County;

•Audrey Southern, 31, Burdett, Schuyler County;

•Chris Tate, 52, Hector, Schuyler County;

•John Wertis, 51, Wertis, Trumansburg, Tompkins County;

•Dwain Wilder, 75, Rochester, Monroe County;

•Ruth Young, 77, Horseheads, Chemung County.

Follow Kelsey O’Connor on Twitter @ijkoconnor.

 Posted by Mariah Plumlee at 1:00 pm  Tagged with: Arlington Gas Storage Co. LLC, Bill Gautreaux, Crestwood Midstream, in the interest of justice, Ithaca Journal, Kelsey O'Connor, liquid propane storage, LPG facility, Methane Storage, Non Violent Direct Action, Seneca Lake Protestors, Town of Reading, unlined salt caverns, WASL, We Are Seneca Lake

After the Fracking Ban

 Media  Comments Off on After the Fracking Ban
Feb 092015
 

After the Fracking Ban

by Adam Federman – February 9, 2015

What’s next for New York’s environmental movement?

It’s been just over a month since Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration announced that fracking would be banned in New York State. This decisive victory for environmental activists who had campaigned for years to keep the industry out of the state also presents a dilemma: Without a high profile issue to rally around, will the state’s environmental movement be able to achieve more far-reaching goals?

Anti fracking protest in NYCPhoto by Adam Welz/CREDO Action

The ban on fracking is freeing up precious time and resources for the New York environmental community to move onto other campaigns, many of which are related to unconventional oil and gas development.

In a post on its website Catskill Mountainkeeper, a grassroots organization involved in the anti-fracking movement from the very beginning, summed up the mood as follows: “This is a huge win for New Yorkers,” the organization wrote, “but the fight is far from over.” Indeed, some activists argue that Cuomo’s decision to ban fracking was less fraught for the governor than it seemed. With oil and gas prices as low as they are, the economic imperative to drill simply wasn’t there. In a few years oil could easily be trading at $100 a barrel, natural gas prices could be high, and a future administration might decide to change course.

“While there was a really amazing and grassroots effort that happened across New York state,” says Henry Harris, an organizer with Rising Tide, “I think we are left with the problematic equation that we’re always dealing with where an environmental win is usually temporary and a loss is usually permanent.”

Still, the ban on fracking in New York State is freeing up precious time and resources for the environmental community to move onto other campaigns, many of which are related to unconventional oil and gas development, as well as focus on the important task of figuring out how to move away from fossil fuels altogether. Plus, activists haven’t given up on the push to ban fracking elsewhere, in nearby states like Pennsylvania and New Jersey, or nationwide for that matter. “We’d like to spread the ban fever from New York across the nation,” says Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. “Until that happens, nobody is safe or in any way free from the pollution and degradation of our natural world that comes with fracking for both gas and shale oil.”

That includes New Yorkers. Carluccio in no way downplays the significance of the Cuomo administration’s decision — it has changed dynamics on the ground —but points out that threats from fracking, direct and indirect, remain.

Long before the ban became official policy there were a number of projects underway in New York that are a direct result of the energy boom (According to Catskill Mountainkeeper there are more than 40 proposed or approved gas infrastructure projects in New York state alone.) There are efforts to turn the western part of the state, known for its wineries and lakes, into a gas transportation and storage hub. There are several proposed pipelines that would carry gas from the Marcellus Shale to markets throughout the Northeast. And there are trains carrying shale oil from North Dakota’s Bakken formation passing through towns and cities in New York on a daily basis. Much of that oil is being offloaded in Albany and then shipped by barge or rail to refineries along the East Coast and Canada.

According to Harris, Rising Tide and a network of environmental groups in the Northeast are in the process of planning a major strategy meeting that will focus on the infrastructure fight or on oil-by-rail, both of which have become top priorities. “The invitation is not just to do broad based organizing strategy but also to employ direct action,” he says.

Even as the fracking ban was announced, We are Seneca Lake, an environmental group opposed to the planned storage of liquid petroleum gas in the Finger Lakes region, had launched a civil disobedience campaign to draw attention to the project. To date more than 200 people have been arrested. Meanwhile, activists in Pennsylvania and New York have joined together to fight the Constitution Pipeline, which would cross most of New York’s southern tier. The Stop the Pipeline coalition is a sophisticated network of landowners and environmentalists working to protect their, “lawns, fields, forests, wetlands and streams.” Agencies like FERC and PHMSA — no longer simply arcane acronyms —are routinely engaged by residents, landowners, and activists who have inserted themselves into the regulatory process. Public hearings are packed and the agencies that approve pipelines or compressor stations are closely scrutinized.

This would not have been the case five years ago before the anti-fracking movement emerged. Thus the fracking opposition has given birth to a new wave of environmentalism, broadly opposed to the extractive industry and highly conscious of the ways that oil and gas development affects us all. “There’s been a sea change in terms of public awareness about the dangers of fracking and the foolishness of continuing to develop fossil fuels as an energy source,” Carluccio says.

It’s not only infrastructure that poses a problem. There are still ways in which fracking could have an impact on New York’s air and water quality, raising public health and safety concerns. The state has few regulations governing the disposal of by-products from oil and gas development, including radioactive drill cuttings.

For several years a landfill in Chemung County has received solid waste from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, and the landfill would like to expand its operation. At least five other landfills in the state have done the same. A recent report from Environmental Advocates of New York revealed that the state had accepted at least 460,000 tons and 23,000 barrels of waste from drilling in Pennsylvania since 2010. (A large percentage of the wastewater generated from fracking in the Marcellus Shale is sent to Ohio and injected underground). In addition, there are few if any regulations governing the withdrawal of water from rivers and streams in New York state for use in fracking operations elsewhere.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for environmental groups in New York State is figuring out how to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Carluccio says a lot of groups are now putting time and energy into coming up with solutions, but admits that more needs to be done. She points to Josh Fox’s solutions grassroots tour, a sort of traveling roadshow devoted to clean energy and the Delaware Riverkeeper’s own blueprint on renewables. Catskill Mountainkeeper has launched Renewable NY, a new campaign with the ambitious goal of transitioning completely to renewable energy by 2050; the organization recently received a $1.8 million grant to continue its work. Even though the task is daunting Carluccio says she’s hopeful because there are so many more people involved today than there were five years ago.

Indeed, another kind of infrastructure has emerged in the wake of New York’s long battle against fracking — an engaged network of residents, activists, and environmental organizations.

Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy, for example, was formed in 2008 when residents got wind of the oil and gas industry looking to drill in the area. From a handful of people gathering around a kitchen table the group has grown to more than 14,000 members in several states. As the name suggests, the organization has always been interested in more than simply banning unconventional oil and gas development in New York. Early on the group focused on issues like energy exports, infrastructure, and the end use of fossil fuels.

“Why should we be using fracked gas in New York when we know it’s so dangerous,” says Jill Wiener, a member of Catskill Citizens. “We have a ban and now it’s our responsibility to make sure that we protect ourselves and our neighbors and neighbors in other states and across the country from this industry.”

Wiener says when she and her allies started out back in 2008 most of the big green groups told them the best they could hope for was better regulation of the industry. But Catskill Citizens and a handful of other grassroots organizations in the state weren’t having it. They saw what was happening in other parts of the country and sought an outright ban. “We really believed it was possible and it was,” she says.

The question now is how to translate that win into another victory. Rising Tide’s Harris says his organization plans to escalate direct action tactics throughout the Northeast into the fall. At the same time frontline communities in New York and the region have been radicalized and educated about the threats of oil and gas development. And they’re showing no signs of slowing down.

“I don’t think it’s harder to mobilize,” Carluccio says. “I think the anti-fracking movement is growing because of the build out of infrastructure. Today it’s a different world and I have hope because of that.”

 Posted by Mariah Plumlee at 6:38 pm  Tagged with: Catskill Mountainkeeper, civil disobedience, Delware Riverkeeper Network, Earth Island Journal, Henry Harris, NVDA, Rising Tide, Tracy Carluccio

Pressure Mounts to Halt Storage Permit Near Seneca Lake

 Media  Comments Off on Pressure Mounts to Halt Storage Permit Near Seneca Lake
Feb 042015
 
Pressure Mounts to Halt Storage Permit Near Seneca Lake
By Julie Sherwood
Newly-formed coalition is among those opposed to allowing natural gas and propane storage facilities in former salt mines along Seneca Lake.
  • A march in downtown Geneva Saturday called for a halt to a proposal seeking to permit liquid propane gas storage in former salt mines along Seneca Lake.   COURTESY OF WE ARE SENECA LAKE TOO FACEBOOK PAGE
A march in downtown Geneva Saturday called for a halt to a proposal seeking to permit liquid propane gas storage in former salt mines along Seneca Lake. COURTESY OF WE ARE SENECA LAKE TOO FACEBOOK PAGE
As the state moves into what could be the final stage in permitting liquid propane gas storage in former salt mines along Seneca Lake, those against the plan are stepping up efforts to stop it.

Next week the state Department of Environmental Conservation holds an “issues conference,” which determines if the DEC will pursue further investigation of citizens’ concerns on the proposal’s environment effects.
“This is the endgame,” said Doug Couchon, a key organizer of the “We Are Seneca Lake” group opposed to the plan. Couchon, who lives in Elmira, was a speaker at a rally Saturday in Geneva dubbed We Are Seneca Lake, Too.
Among the 300-plus protesters at the rally, which included speeches at City Hall and a march from Lakefront Park through downtown, was South Bristol resident Edgar Brown. Brown said he was encouraged by the rally and other developments putting pressure on the state to deny the permit.
“Awareness is growing, and there is an increasing feeling of solidarity,” said Brown.
At the issues conference on Feb. 12 in Horseheads, Chemung County, a judge will consider information presented by pre-approved individuals and groups on the environmental effects of the proposal by Houston-based Crestwood Midstream. From there, the judge could call for a full adjudication of the concerns, or could grant Crestwood the permit.
A recent development in the growing efforts to halt the project was the formation of Finger Lakes Wine Business Coalition and that organization’s Jan. 30 letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The coalition — representing wineries, vineyards and wine-related businesses from the Finger Lakes region — also participated in the push to prevent shale gas drilling in New York. Cuomo last year put the kibosh on drilling
“We view this Facility as a direct threat not only to Seneca Lake, but to the strong and growing tourism industry in the Finger Lakes,” stated the letter signed by the dozens of coalition members, including Will Ouweleen of Eagle Crest Vineyards, John Ingle of Heron Hill Winery; and Doug Hazlitt of Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards. The letter also pointed to data supporting a poor history of similar gas storage facilities in salt caverns nationwide, threatening safety and quality of life.
The Finger Lakes Wine Business Coalition and other opponents say the permit would bring heavy industry, more truck traffic and unacceptable risk of catastrophic accidents to a region that thrives on tourism.
Brown expressed his feelings in a post for We Are Seneca Lake web page, saying that as the father of young sons, he wants them to “grow up to understand, love, and protect the Finger Lakes” and to model that commitment himself.

Brown added the larger story, however, is about the hundreds of thousands of local citizens who have chosen to create an exceptional quality of life for their families and future generations … in an area of “world class viticulture, cutting-edge organic agriculture, and sustainable ecotourism.”
“That is a beautiful story that corporate officials in ivory towers in Houston, Texas, can never possibly hope to understand,” he wrote. “There is no pocketbook deep enough to challenge and prevail against this kind of fierce, collective commitment.”– See more at: http://www.irondequoitpost.com/article/20150204/NEWS/150209910/1994/NEWS/sthash.STQWstWF.dpuf#sthash.G6gWOr66.dpuf
 Posted by Mariah Plumlee at 11:53 pm  Tagged with: Crestwood, Crestwood Midstream, DEC issues conference, Doug Couchon, Edgar Brown, liquid propane storage, LPG is good for me, March in Geneva against gas storage, Methane Storage, The Finger Lakes Wine Business Coalition, We Are Seneca Lake, We are Seneca Lake Too

Doug Couchon Speech at the Gates of Crestwood

 Media  Comments Off on Doug Couchon Speech at the Gates of Crestwood
Feb 042015
 

Doug Couchon at the Gates of Crestwood

Feb 4, 2015: Fathers and Grandfathers Blockade

 

Happy fathers’ and grandfathers’ day! Welcome fathers and grandfathers to the gates of Crestwood where we find ourselves dumbfounded by a corporation which values money over the health of our families by Crestwood which seeks to store explosive and poisonous fracked gasses in unstable salt caverns beneath the banks of beautiful Seneca Lake.

Welcome dads to this stand we take at these gates to protect our families and communities. We are used to playing the role of protector. It’s what we do.

We would not stand by and allow an immediate threat to harm a family member. We would put ourselves in harm’s way to protect our loved ones. We have done this before.

And now we do it here. Crestwood’s actions and intentions present a clear and present danger to our wellbeing and that of our families and communities. And we will do what it takes to eliminate the threat. And we will do it peacefully and nonviolently. We will do it with our good minds and strong hearts working together. We will do it with love leading the way. And we will win the battle at these gates. And we will witness Crestwood’s retreat.

We’ll join forces with the mothers and grandmothers of this region whose passion for protecting all that we love matches our own. No corporation can prevail over the determination of us parents to avert harm from befalling the people and environment we care about.

A father senses a duty to assess any danger that threatens his family. Dads – are our families in danger here?

There are other ways a father protects his children. We do so by building their self-esteem, confidence, and life skills. We do so by fine tuning their decision making and problem solving skills, and by strengthening their judgment so they can protect themselves and their own families down the road.

We provide loving leadership intended to foster responsibility and competence in adulthood. And we teach values such as respect for all forms of life in nature, and the expectation that when others threaten to destroy what is good about life we stand up and say NO.

In society’s view, a successful father is a lifelong leader and teacher. His lessons about right and wrong live on in the lives of his children long after they find their own way, and long after he has passed from this life. A great father never stops being a father. He lives on as a great man in the hearts of his children and friends.

So dads, a father’s job is never done. Here we are again, setting the example…this time for an entire region.

Men let’s go forward today and block us a truck, shall we. And if no trucks should appear, we stand up and send our message to Crestwood nonetheless: Go home to Texas. There will be no gas storage here!

 

 Posted by dan at 6:29 pm

A Risk Too Far

 Media  Comments Off on A Risk Too Far
Jan 262015
 

Monday, January 26, 2015

A Risk Too Far

 by Gordon Bonnet

Assessing risk is a complicated thing.  The technical definition of risk — that it is equal to the statistical probability of exposure multiplied by the statistical probability of harm — seems simple enough.  But in practice, calculating those probabilities is far from straightforward.  And when you throw in questions like, “Are the people exposed to the risk the same ones as the ones who are benefiting from it?” and “What if the people involved in the risk assessment are very likely to be lying to you?”, it becomes damn near impossible to determine.

Such is the situation we find ourselves in, here in upstate New York.  The current controversy that is polarizing the region surrounds the benefits and risks of hydrofracking and storage of natural gas and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) in salt caverns underneath Seneca and Cayuga Lake.  You see signs in front of houses saying “Ban Fracking!” and “Friends of New York State Natural Gas” in almost equal numbers.
So let’s roll out some facts, here, and see what you think.
Hydrofracking well in the Barnett Shale, near Alvarado, Texas [image courtesy of photographer David R. Tribble and the Wikimedia Commons]
Hydrofracking involves the use of sand, salt, and surfactant-laden water to blow open shale formations to release trapped natural gas.  The gas is pumped back up, along with a toxic slurry of “fracking fluid” that then has to be disposed of.  The gas itself is transported down a spider’s web of pipelines, some of which pump the pressurized gas down into the abandoned salt mines that honeycomb our area.
In upstate New York, the permission to build the infrastructure for this massive project was granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last year, in a move that brushed aside objections from geologists and ecologists, and which appears to many of us to be a rubber-stamp approval of corporate interests over safety and clean drinking water.  Now, Crestwood Midstream, a Texas-based energy company, wants to expand the current salt-cavern storage to include LPG.
So let’s see what we can do to consider the risks involved in this project.
The first piece, the risk of exposure, involves looking at the history of fracking and gas storage, to see if comparable facilities have experienced problems.  So here are a few accidents that have occurred in such sites:
  • A blast that killed one and injured two in Weld County, Colorado.
  • A blowout in North Dakota that released 10,000 gallons of combined oil and fracking fluid into a local creek system until the leak was sealed two weeks later.
  • A second spill in North Dakota of three million gallons into the Yellowstone/Missouri River watershed that has yet to be contained.
  • An illegal wastewater injection site in California that contaminated local agricultural and drinking water aquifers with three billion gallons of fracking fluid.
  • Four separate accidents in Ohio, one involving a huge methane leak from a fracking site, a fracking well leak that spilled 1,600 gallons of drill lubricant into a river, an explosion and spill that leaked 25,000 gallons of various chemicals into a tributary of the Ohio River, and a well rupture in Guernsey County that required the evacuation of 400 families from their homes.
  • An explosion of a gas well that required the evacuation of an entire town in Wyoming.
  • A spill of an “unknown amount of brine” near California, Pennsylvania, “some of which left the containment site.”
What I haven’t told you, however, is the time scale involved with these events.
All of them occurred within the past twelve months.
Kind of puts a new spin on the gas industry’s claim that fracking is safe for humans and for the environment, doesn’t it?
What seals the deal is the question of what happens after these accidents occur.  The answer is: not much.  The question is, honestly, not so much “what is done?” but “what could be done?”  And the answer is still: not much.  Such accidents are nearly impossible to remediate completely, and leave behind fouled ecosystems and contaminated drinking water that won’t be useable for generations.
So as you can see from the above list, accidents really are more of a matter of “when,” not “if.”  This leaves it to the local residents to consider what the response would be if the unthinkable happens.  The result would be the salinization of a huge amount of water in the south end of Seneca Lake, which would likely be permanent as far as human lifetimes are concerned, given Seneca Lake’s depth and slow rate of flushing.  Aquifers would become too saline to use for drinking water or agriculture, which would destroy not only local farms but the multi-million-dollar winery industry that has become a mainstay of the economy.
And whose responsibility would it be if a problem did occur?  The answer is, “Not Crestwood’s.”  They are not insured against accidents of this scale.  To quote directly from their own 10K report:

These risks could result in substantial losses due to breaches of contractual commitments, personal injury and/or loss of life, damage to and destruction of
property and equipment and pollution or other environmental damage. These risks may also result in curtailment or suspension of our operations. A natural
disaster or other hazard affecting the areas in which we operate could have a material adverse effect on our operations. We are not fully insured against all risks inherent in our business. In addition, we are not insured against all environmental accidents that might occur, some of which may result in toxic tort claims.

If there was a salt cavern collapse similar to one that happened in the 1960s, the result would be nothing short of a catastrophe for the local residents, because there would be no compensation forthcoming in the way of insurance money.  The only recourse would be a “toxic tort claim” against Crestwood, which would result in costly litigation that would be far too expensive for an average resident to pursue.
And Crestwood is planning on taking the same cavern that experienced a 400,000 ton roof collapse fifty years ago, and filling it with pressurized natural gas.
So if the whole thing blows up in our faces, literally and figuratively, Crestwood can cut their losses and go home to Texas.  We don’t have that option.
This hasn’t stopped the pro-gas voices from characterizing the risk as minimal, and the people who are speaking out against Crestwood as crazy tree-huggers who have “drunk the Kool-Aid” and who are the victims of “imaginary delusions.”  These last phrases are direct quotes from one David Crea, an engineer for U.S. Salt, a company that is now owned by Crestwood.  Responsible, intelligent people, say Crea, couldn’t possibly be against gas storage in salt caverns; and he points out that a lot of the people who have been protesting the Crestwood Expansion are from the eastern half of Schuyler County, not the western half, where the facility is located.
Because, apparently, you have to live right on top of a disaster before you’re allowed to have an opinion about it.  This kind of illogic would claim that the objections of a woman in Oregon to the siting of a pesticide factory 400 yards away from an elementary school in Middleport, New York are irrelevant because “she doesn’t live there.”  (I didn’t make that up; read about the situation here, which resulted in dozens of children suffering from permanent lung damage.)
So sorry, Mr. Crea; it’s not the concerned locals who have “drunk the Kool-Aid.”  There’s not that much Kool-Aid in the world.  It’s the citizens you and your ilk have hoodwinked, and who now sit on top of a site that has a ridiculously high likelihood of catastrophic failure.  And if you multiply all of those risk factors together, you come up with a figure so large that you would have to be on Crestwood’s payroll to consider it acceptable.
 Posted by Mariah Plumlee at 7:05 pm  Tagged with: Arlington Gas Storage Co. LLC, Crestwood Midstream, David McCrea, LPG, LPG facility, LPG is good for me, Methane Storage, Salt Caverns, Sheriff Yessman, shock doctrine of gas companies, Town of Reading, Vic Furman

Message to the UK: The Fracking Bridge is Already Burning

 Media  Comments Off on Message to the UK: The Fracking Bridge is Already Burning
Jan 242015
 

Message to the UK: The Fracking Bridge is Already Burning

by
Naomi Klein

Despite all of the David Cameron government’s fanfare about “going all out for shale,” widespread resistance has already put the UK’s pro-fracking forces on the defensive. (Photo: by Frack Free Denton)

On a week-long trip to the UK last fall, I was struck by how quickly the push to open up the country to fracking has been escalating. Thankfully, activists are mounting a vigorous and creative response, and are more than up to the task of galvanizing the public to put a stop to this mad dash to extract.

That is not to say it will be easy. In rushing to exploit the UK’s shale gas reserves, the industry has spent millions on public relations and brazenly overridden the democratic will of British citizens by overturning laws that had prevented drilling under homes. The coalition government, meanwhile, has done the sector’s bidding at every turn.

We’ve seen all of this before. Indeed what is happening in the UK is modeled so closely on the U.S. experience that an October 2014 opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal spoke of “Plotting an American-Style Fracking Revolution in Britain.”

So it’s worth playing close attention to how that earlier plot played out, both in the United States and in my own country, Canada. The U.S. is not only where the gas companies honed various technologies used in fracking, but also where they honed their branding—like their pitch, originating in the early 1980s, that natural gas was a “bridge” to a clean energy future.

As opposition has grown, they have cleverly funded studies stamped by big green organizations that understate fracking’s huge greenhouse gas impact; touted over-optimistic production forecasts; and in true shock doctrine style, tried to take advantage of geo-political crisis, like the gas cut-offs in Ukraine, to push through massive export plans that in any other circumstance could never gain legislative or public approval.

And when all else fails, government and industry have turned to criminalizing peaceful activism. They’ve dispatched heavily armed police against Indigenous communities blockading shale gas exploration in New Brunswick, Canada; gagged families impacted by drilling from criticizing the industry for an entire lifetime; and tried to charge as “terrorists” protesters in Oklahoma who unfurled a banner and dropped glitter at an oil and gas company’s office.

Yet even with such tactics, communities across North America are in full revolt. Last month came the huge news that New York State would ban fracking, following a steady stream of bans and moratoria passed in local communities, as well as years of sustained pressure from the activists and scientists—like biologist and author Sandra Steingraber, co-founder of New Yorkers Against Fracking—who have tirelessly documented and spread the word about the health and climate impacts. (The New York uprising continues in the Finger Lakes region of the state, where one Texas-based company hopes to create a massive “gas storage and transportation hub,” and where 200 blockaders have been arrested resisting its plans to fill abandoned salt caverns along Seneca Lake with enormous amounts of fracked gas.) A ban has also been passed in Vermont and there are moratoria in parts of California, as well as in the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland.

And a month before the New York victory, the Texas town of Denton—the birthplace of the fracking boom and perhaps the most drilled area in the country—voted decisively to ban hydraulic fracturing. The victory was achieved in a Republican town, in the face of an industry that poured hundreds of thousands into the battle—which was, in the words of a resident, “more like David and Godzilla than David and Goliath.”

The story of Denton has much to teach the growing anti-fracking movement in Britain. What it demonstrates is that, left to their own devices, the fossil fuel companies will come after your homes, your churches, your schools, your parks, your university campuses, and your sports stadiums—all of which have had wells drilled on or near them in Denton.

But despite all of the David Cameron government’s fanfare about “going all out for shale,” widespread resistance has already put the UK’s pro-fracking forces on the defensive. A recent Guardian analysis found that only 11 new exploration wells are planned for 2015, with the industry bemoaning the “glacially slow” pace of the shale expansion—to say nothing of possible impacts from the global oil price shock now threatening extreme fossil fuels around the world. Just yesterday, ahead of a key Parliament vote on fracking legislation, green groups sent Cameron a petition with 267,000 signatures rejecting the dash for gas.

It may seem that frackers in the UK and elsewhere will stop at nothing to have their way. But thanks to the rising global climate movement, this so-called bridge is already burning. And it’s long past time to choose a different path.

 Posted by Mariah Plumlee at 4:44 pm  Tagged with: bridge fuel, David Cameron's government, Frack Free Denton, natural gas, New Yorkers Against Fracking, Sandra Steingraber, shock doctrine of gas companies

WRITE ON: Two rallies for one lake

 Media  Comments Off on WRITE ON: Two rallies for one lake
Jan 232015
 

WRITE ON: Two rallies for one lake

By MICHAEL FITZGERALD | Posted: Friday, January 23, 2015 5:05 pm

Finger Lakes Times, Geneva, NY

=========

What a difference six months can make.

A regional rally of nearly 500 people marched through Watkins Glen last July to protest a narrowly approved Schuyler County Legislature resolution supporting liquid propane gas storage in unlined salt caverns on the west shore of Seneca Lake.

That county resolution urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo to approve a proposal to store 88 million gallons of LPG in caverns three miles north of Watkins Glen.

Next Saturday, Jan. 31, Geneva will be the site of another regional rally. But this one is to make it clear the future of the lake is not solely in the hands of misguided Schuyler County elected officials.

The rally has also been organized to demonstrate the rapidly growing regional — and nearly unanimous — Finger Lakes solidarity against the project.

The Geneva rally will begin at Waterfront Park followed by a march through downtown (with a visit to GOP Congressman Tom Reed’s office) before ending up at Geneva City Hall.

Speakers include Seneca County’s Steve Churchill, environmental activist Sandra Steingraber, Geneva City Councilman Ken Camera and Doug Couchon, one of the key organizers of the “We Are Seneca Lake” group.

We Are Seneca Lake has been grabbing state and national headlines since October for its blockade and arrests at the Town of Reading site where Crestwood of Houston has federal approval to store natural gas and is seeking permits to add LPG — under high pressure — to its underground inventory.

Two hundred people had been arrested for trespassing as of Monday. Arrests continue almost daily.

The Geneva rally, dubbed “We Are Seneca Lake, Too,” is part of the run-up to the Feb. 12 state Department of Environmental Conservation issues conference in Horseheads.

James T. McClymonds, chief administrative law judge for the DEC, will be taking testimony from proponents and opponents.

If McClymonds believes the issues and evidence opposing a state permit for the LPG storage are weighty enough, he is expected to recommend a court hearing at a later date.

It’s like a playoff game. Everything is on the line for opponents who need to convince McClymonds to give them a day in court. The same for Crestwood, which wants the permits issued to start LPG storage in the caverns right away.

Among other issues, the danger posed to lake water quality is expected to be a key matter on the table. Seneca Lake currently provides water to more than 100,000 people.

While both sides have prepared their evidence and lined up a slew of experts to testify, the Schuyler County Legislature — the same legislature that voted to support the LPG storage in July — decided against becoming involved in the conference, instead opting to let gas industry lobbyists make their case for approval.

But in a surprise move, Schuyler legislators Michael Lausell, a Democrat, and Van Harp, a Republican, broke ranks with their colleagues and filed with the DEC to be allowed to offer evidence and testimony outlining concerns about sketchy safety protocols in the county to handle any propane storage related emergency.

Their action constitutes a political earthquake and directly challenges Dennis Fagan, just reelected legislative chair and an ardent booster of LPG storage. His support comes despite citizens’ demands he recuse himself from all gas matters because of a perceived conflict of interest. Fagan is up for reelection in November to keep his legislative seat.

The political case has been tightly stitched against the LPG storage with each rally, the regional alliance, official government-backed resolutions, arrests and overwhelming public opposition.

If the scientific case presented Feb. 12 is as strong, perhaps the next regional rallies will be celebrations of making it through this playoff.

Fitzgerald worked for six newspapers as a writer and editor as well as a correspondent for several news services. He lives in Valois and Watkins Glen with his wife. They are owner/operators of a publishing enterprise called *subject2change Media. His “Write On” column appears Fridays. He can be contacted at Michael.Fitzgeraldfltcolumnist@gmail.com.

 

 Posted by Mariah Plumlee at 11:12 pm  Tagged with: DEC, Dennis Fagan, Doug Couchon, Geneva City Council, Ken Camera, liquid propane storage, LPG, Schuyler County Legislature, Special Issues Hearing Horseheads NY, Steve Churchill Seneca County, unlined salt caverns, WASL, We Are Seneca Lake

Mothers Against Crestwood Video 1-16-2015

 Media  Comments Off on Mothers Against Crestwood Video 1-16-2015
Jan 172015
 

Mothers Against Crestwood 1-16-2015

Heriberto Rodriguez
 Posted by Mariah Plumlee at 11:27 pm  Tagged with: Arlington Gas Storage Co. LLC, Barry Moon, Bill Gautreaux, Crestwood Midstream, Heriberto Rodriguez, LPG facility, LPG is good for me, Sheriff Yessman, Vic Furman, Watkins Glen, William Yessman
 Older Entries

Recent Press Releases

  • The Banner, Vol. 3, No. 06 – Contempt and Confusion in High Places
  • Crestwood Promises Minor Changes to Gas Storage Plans at Seneca Lake. We Are Seneca Lake vows to continue opposition
  • Environmental Leaders Arrested at Large Seneca Lake Gas Storage Protest
  • Victory for We Are Seneca Lake Protesters as Mistrial Declared in Town of Reading Court
  • Star Trek Actors James Cromwell, J.G. Hertzler and 17 Others Arrested at Seneca Lake Gas Storage Facility, Call on Gov Cuomo to Boldly Go Beyond Fossil Fuels
  • Families Arrested at Seneca Lake Protesting FERC Extension for Crestwood/Con Ed Gas Storage – 5.26.16 (Press Release)
© 2016 We Are Seneca Lake Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha