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PLEDGE TO PROTECT SENECA LAKE

Because I know--

that Seneca Lake is the largest body of fresh water wholly contained within the
New York State, creates a climate perfectly suited for the growing of wine grapes,
is a world-class tourist destination and serves as a source of drinking water for
100,000 people;

that Houston-based Crestwood Midstream plans to store highly pressurized
natural gas (methane) and liquefied petroleum gases (butane and propane, also
known as LPG) in abandoned salt caverns near the lake;

that old, unlined salt caverns are dangerous vessels for the storage of flammable
gases (as was illustrated in Hutchinson, Kansas

when salt cavern-stored natural
gas leaked through subterranean fissures and fractures and caused deadly
explosions seven miles away) and can also be structurally unstable (as was
illustrated by the 1994 collapse of a salt cavern in Livingston County, New York,
in a calamity that created sinkholes, methane-contaminated basements, and a
permanently poisoned drinking water aquifer
1
);

that Seneca Lake caverns are vulnerable to roof collapses that could allow
pressurized gases to escape, as is evidenced by the 400,000-ton roof collapse that
has already occurred in a Seneca Lake salt cavern now slated by Crestwood for
natural gas storage;

that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, over the strenuous objections of
citizens and independent geologists, nevertheless approved Crestwoods natural
gas storage expansion plan in May 2014;

that on August 11, 2014, the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) called a temporary halt to Crestwood's plans to stockpile
LPG in the Seneca Lake salt caverns by announcing a special Issues Conference
to investigate ongoing health, safety, and environmental concerns of lakeside gas
storage here;

that one day later, on August 12, Crestwood outrageously announced a plan
to commence construction of a compressor station to pressurize natural gas for

1
P. Mantius, Geologists Say Feds Made Incredible Error Ignoring Huge N.Y. Salt Cavern Roof
Collapse, DC Bureau, 29 Jan 2014. http://www.dcbureau.org/201401299592/natural-resources-news-
service/geologist-says-feds-made-incredible-error-ignoring-huge-n-y-salt-cavern-roof-collapse.html; P.
Mantius, Marcellus Watch, The Corning Leader, 17 August 2014. http://www.the-
leader.com/article/20140817/NEWS/140819751/1007/OPINION/?Start=1

underground storage in salt caverns
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;

that dozens of winery and business owners from the Finger Lakes region have
traveled to Albany to urge Governor Cuomo to express opposition to
BOTH natural gas and LPG storage on the grounds that they are an industrial
menace to the tourism and wine industry;

that, dozens of Schuyler County health care professionals have called for a halt to
BOTH natural gas and LPG storage in these salt caverns on the grounds that
they raise unacceptable risks of catastrophic accidents, injuries; and contaminated
water and air.

that it is a cynical shell game to move forward with the storage of one type of
pressurized gas even while DEC has issued a cease and desist order on the storage
of another type.

that Crestwood is a dangerous intruder in our community, willing to flout the will
of residents in flagrant disregard for our security and wellbeing, in order to build
out the infrastructure for fracking;


Hence, I pledge--

to join with others in this region and elsewhere to engage in peaceful, nonviolent acts of
protest, up to and including civil disobedience, until additional storage of LPG and
methane in Seneca Lake salt caverns is halted.

I make this pledge to ensure the protection of Seneca Lake, which nourishes the vitality
and enjoyment of the communities surrounding it; to prevent the destruction and
poisoning of water, air, and food systems on which safety, health, and economic
prosperity of our communities--and those of future generationsall depend. My abiding
concern for the health and safety of my community compels me to take this action.








2
http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/file_list.asp?accession_num=20140812-5017

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