FACTS ABOUT LPG STORAGE ON SENECA LAKE We’ve been storing propane in salt caverns for years. Isn’t this just business as usual? LPG hasn’t been stored in salt caverns at this site in 30 years. TEPPCO was the last company to store propane there but moved out of the ready-made salt caverns in 1984 into a lined cavity they dug themselves less than a mile away, at significant effort and expense. Isn’t Crestwood’s proposal just a minimal expansion of underground gas storage? No. Although Crestwood’s initial application for LPG storage is 2.1 million barrels of propane and butane, Crestwood’s shareholders are being told that the company has 40 million barrels of energy storage capacity and plans major expansions to serve Northeast U.S. and Canada. Their initial expansion of compressed natural gas is for 2.0 billion cubic feet, with the hope of further expansion to 10 billion cubic feet. Crestwood says storing gas in salt caverns is safe. Salt cavern storage is historically unsafe. According to an industry insider report (“Gas Storage and Single-Point Failure Risk,” by John M. Hopper), there were 407 underground gas storage facilities (propane and natural gas) in operation in 2002 in the U.S., and only 29 (or 7%) of these were salt cavern storage facilities. Yet salt cavern storage was responsible for 100% of all catastrophic failures between 1972 and 2004. What about more truck traffic on Routes 14, 14a & 414 around the lake and through Watkins Glen? A truck and rail depot capable of operating 24/7 year round will be constructed. It can load and unload 4 or 5 semi trucks per hour and 24 rail cars in 12 hours. That’s 70,000 additional truck trips annually (more than 190 per day) at full capacity, and almost 900,000 gallons of propane or butane stored above ground at any one time. The trucks will run on Routes 14 and 14A, the railroad tankers on an 80-year-old trestle over the Gorge on the west side of Watkins Glen State Park. Could our drinking water be affected? Seneca Lake is the largest freshwater body within New York State borders and provides drinking water for 100,000 people. But Seneca is also the saltiest of the Finger Lakes. Crestwood is permitted to drop an average of 44,000 pounds of chloride into the lake each day, up to a maximum of 70,000 pounds per day, less than 2 miles away from the Village of Watkins water intake pipes. If there is any catastrophic event with the underground storage of gas in salt caverns or with the brine ponds on the west side of the lake, gravity will assure that all pollutants will quickly be deposited in Seneca Lake. Will this project really industrialize Schuyler County? What does that mean? Crestwood’s proposed LPG storage facility will be the biggest in New York and the largest using salt caverns. That means more truck traffic, more train traffic, more pollution, more noise, more road damage. Traffic is already gridlocked in Watkins Glen on race weekends and Wine Trail events. No truck bypass is feasible. Won’t industrialization help our local economy? Industrialization, as proposed, provides only a handful of jobs, no sales tax, and little in the way of property tax. Over 200 regional businesses have expressed opposition to the LPG storage project because of the potential harm to the local economy and the environment. It will weaken or destroy the solid economic base of agriculture and tourism developed over the past several decades due to increased traffic, pollution, and safety concerns. And our tourism industry is sound business: • In 2012, New York’s grape and wine industry contributed $4.8 billion to the state’s economy, an increase of 27% from four years prior. • In 2010, 21 vineyards employed 161 people with a $2.7 million payroll; 45 wineries employed 1,017 people and paid $24.5 million in wages. • In 2008, visitors spent more than $307 million in Schuyler, Seneca, Ontario, and Yates counties. Tourism employed 6,335 people and paid $146 million in wages. Tourists paid $20 million in local taxes and $19 million in state taxes. Isn’t this just a Schuyler County issue? The proposed LPG and natural gas storage facility represents air, water, soil, and noise pollution concerns for all four counties surrounding Seneca Lake. Gas leaks and spills from¬ brine pits on steep slopes can devastate water and soil quality as well as wildlife and fish. Seneca Lake is a drinking water source for 100,000 people, and salt contamination to potable water supplies is nearly impossible to remediate. Three of the four counties surrounding Seneca Lake (Seneca, Yates, and Ontario) oppose the project, as does the Village of Watkins Glen, the city of Geneva and the town of Geneva, The towns of: Waterloo, Ulysses, Romulus, and Fayette. The Tompkins County Environmental Management Council, along with the Schuyler County Environmental Management Council, have also expressed concerns about Crestwood’s plans. Won’t our propane and natural gas prices be reduced because we have local storage? The price of propane is market-driven. We already have over three and a half million barrels of propane stored within a 60-mile radius of Watkins Glen, yet the price of a gallon of propane here keeps pace with the national average. Local suppliers (not Crestwood) could choose to lower their profit margins on residential propane prices, but that wouldn’t necessarily have any relationship to closer proximity to a gas storage hub. Is there a propane shortage? How will I heat my home next winter? There is no propane shortage. There is a propane glut. Propane is currently so plentiful that although it was originally extracted to serve the Northeast, it is now being shipped out of the country, creating a domestic (and local) shortage. In fact, propane exports increased by 75% in 2013 to over 400,000 barrels a day. If a disaster happens here, isn’t Crestwood liable to pay all damages and the costs of cleanup? In its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents, Crestwood Midstream disclosed that its proposed hydrocarbon storage comes with risks of cavern failure and leaks. The company acknowledges in SEC filings that it is not insured for all risks. And any catastrophe that happens off Crestwood property is not their responsibility. This leaves the community first in line to pay for damages incurred due to a natural disaster, cavern collapse, catastrophic equipment failure, train derailments or any other catastrophes associated with the storage or transport of propane and butane. If the community doesn’t have the resources to pay for these damages, the costs will fall on NY State taxpayers. If there is an explosion, chemical or gas leak, brine pond seepage, or other industrial-related accident, are our volunteer emergency teams able to adequately protect our community? There is no emergency safety plan in place, and regulators are allowing Crestwood to create a plan after the company receives its permit, if it does receive one. No emergency team could be prepared for the possible carnage from a catastrophe involving propane or other gases without a major investment in specific emergency equipment and a plan to deal with such a scenario. Why are local health care practitioners united against LPG storage? Schuyler County Health Care Professionals are concerned about expected increases in asthma cases, pre-term births, low birth weight, and learning disabilities as well as air quality. Activity at Crestwood’s facility and the upsurge in truck traffic will dramatically increase the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are known to be particularly harmful to grapevines. Massive industrial lights, noise, emissions, and road hazards from the compressors, trains, and trucks at the center of a tourist region will also be a concern. If gas storage is not allowed to expand in Schuyler County, won’t that jeopardize the jobs at U.S. Salt? Salt production is one line of business for Crestwood. They make money at it. If the DEC denies Crestwood the LPG and/or gas permits and the company is prevented from carrying out its plan to create a major gas storage hub here, they might decide to sell the U.S. Salt division because it is not their core business. But it wouldn’t be practical to close it, despite Crestwood’s threats. For more facts about the proposed LPG storage facility on Seneca Lake, visit gasfreeseneca gasfreeseneca/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/towns_LPG_opposition_21Oct14.jpg
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 12:42:54 +0000