About 40 arrests were made Tuesday at the gates of Crestwood Midstream during a protest of a gas storage facility near Seneca Lake.
Watkins Glen Village Police said there were 39 arrests, but Doug Couchon, who was among those arrested Tuesday, put the number of arrests at 41.
At a press conference held after the protests Tuesday, Couchon, who also was arrested at a protest on Nov. 21, spoke about the evolution of the We Are Seneca Lake movement that has been conducting what it calls an ongoing civil disobedience campaign to stop the expansion of methane gas storage in underground salt caverns in the town of Reading.
He said he has spoken with many people in the region who said once the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved Crestwood Midstream’s request to begin construction to expand methane storage, they were inspired to commit acts of civil disobedience.
“Since that time, all you have to do is ask, and people come out in droves,” Couchon said. “They’re steadfast in their support, unwavering in their determination to stop Crestwood from building the compressor station.”
About 100 people turned out Tuesday, he said.
More than 100 hundred protesters came out Tuesday morning to protest the construction of the Crestwood gas storage facility north of Watkins Glen. About 40 were arrested. Simon Wheeler / Staff Video
The sheriff’s offices of Schuyler and Yates counties and village and state police were at the scene during the protest. At one point, a larger group of those arrested was taken away in a Schuyler County government van.
“Police are being very aggressive with us,” protester Sandra Steingraber of Trumansburg said shortly before noon via cell phone.
Steingraber is a distinguished scholar in residence in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences at Ithaca College. She said she has just served a week in the Chemung County Jail in connection with an earlier protest.
Protesters began blocking the Crestwood gas storage facility gates on Oct. 23, leading to many arrests for trespassing at the Town of Reading facility on state Route 14.