At the close of Tuesday night's Board meetings, the Towns of Varick (3-1) and Seneca Falls (unanimous) added their votes against Crestwood's proposed gas storage and transport facility in Schuyler County.

On the heels of last month's unanimously passed City of Syracuse Resolution, these additions comprise 21 municipalities surrounding Seneca Lake and throughout the Finger Lakes region, representing nearly 760,000 constituents, who are urging Governor Andrew Cuomo to deny permits for gas storage to Texas-based Crestwood Midstream.

"The Seneca Falls Canal Harbor is the historic gateway to the Finger Lakes.  It's the birthplace of Women's Rights, among other social and religious reforms that have been supported by local residents.  We are pleased that they are standing up for their right to clean water and air and against the dirty industrialization that Crestwood proposes. This is the most basic of human rights, after all," says Yvonne Taylor, co-founder of Gas Free Seneca.

The map of opposition continues to grow, making it increasingly difficult for Governor Cuomo to ignore the pleas of his voters in the Finger Lakes Region.


At their regularly scheduled Town Board Meeting Wednesday the Town of Ovid, in a surprise move, brought to the floor a resolution opposing Crestwood Midstream's gas storage plans on Seneca Lake.

After hearing from many of their constituents, who were unanimously opposed to the project and all of whom asked the Board to pass a resolution, the Board did just that. The vote was 3 ayes, one abstention and one Board member was absent.

In the discussion preceding the vote, one Board member said that he had been out talking to Town residents about the gas storage in anticipation of the issue coming up. He said that he hadn't found one Town resident who was in favor of the project.

The only person in attendance who spoke in favor of the project was David Crea, US Salt employee from the Town of Reading (US Salt is a wholly owned subsidiary of Crestwood) who enraged the winery owners by accusing them of only hiring "seasonal workers", questioned where those workers came from and said, "how many of them go on welfare in the off season?" Crea drew the ire of the many Ovid residents in attendance by accusing them of putting on an "orchestrated show" to manipulate the Town Board.

Last month, Crestwood attempted to create the appearance of support for the project through their corporations' PR Firm, M Public Affairs.  Opponents say this was largely debunked when investigative journalists uncovered that in the press release, propane truck haulers were posing as vintners and grape inspectors.  Meanwhile, the mounting opposition from actual agri-tourism business owners, area residents, and elected officials has strengthened, with their message becoming perfectly clear: Large-scale industrial gas storage and transport is incompatible with our vision for the region.

"With Watkins Glen State Park recently being voted as the 3rd best state park in the nation out of 6,000 entries, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo committing more than $25 million to supplement the existing I LOVE NY marketing campaign to further boost the tourism economy in the Finger Lakes, it makes sense that he would listen to his constituents and simply reject permits to Texas-based Crestwood.  It's time to end this insanity," said Gas Free Seneca Co-Founder, Joseph Campbell.

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