Seneca Lake

10 Protesters Arrested At Crestwood Gates

February 6, 2015 Jeff Stein, www.ithacavoice.com Resist! Environment, New York (NY), Seneca Lake

Ten people, including two from Tompkins County, were arrested in the ongoing protests at the gates of the Crestwood natural gas facility in acts of civil disobedience on Wednesday. One of those arrested — Jim Connor, of Schuyler County — is 83 years old. The total number of arrests since demonstrations began this fall is now 210, according to We Are Seneca Lake, the group mobilizing opposition to the expansion of the natural gas facility. From the protesters: “The protesters began blockading at 9:45 a.m. and blocked the main entrance to Crestwood in below-freezing temperatures, preventing one truck from from entering the facility and two trucks from leaving. Supporters shoveled snow along the side of the road to ensure safety. At 10:30 a.m., all ten were arrested by Schuyler County deputies and transported to the sheriff’s office where they were charged with trespassing and released.”

Newsletter: Our Task-The Future As A Frontier

January 24, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter BXE, Citizens United, Corporatocracy, Davos, Democracy, Elections, fast track, FERC, Fracking, Martin Luther King Jr, MLK, Pipelines, Seneca Lake, Solar, Supreme Court, TPP, World Economic Forum

Sam Smith gave this talk, “On Becoming and Being an Activist,” at a teen conference. The essence of his message is that we are facing serious crises and we have to make a choice of whether we will act or not. We are on a dangerous path and it takes courage to see that and not be paralyzed into inaction. It is easier to ignore the truth and succumb to the many distractions in our lives. Smith writes: “It is this willingness to walk away from the seductive power of the present that first divides the mere reformer from the rebel — the courage to emigrate from one’s own ways in order to meet the future not as just a right but as a frontier.” Smith goes on to describe that traditional tools for social change, working within the system, are not effective in this time. We must raise our voices, do the unexpected and try the improbable. We need to use our passion, our energy, our magic and music to burst the illusion being hand fed to us in the media and taught in our schools.

Two Rallies For One Lake

January 24, 2015 Michael Fitzgerald, www.fltimes.com Resist! Environment, Seneca Lake

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.

200 Arrests In Ongoing Seneca Lake Uprising

January 22, 2015 Sandra Steingraber, www.ecowatch.com Resist! Blockades, Environment, Fracking, Seneca Lake

Seneca Lake Defenders—as those risking arrest call themselves—come in all ages, from 18 to 90, and from many walks of life. As diverse as we are, everyone is united in the belief that Crestwood is an out-of-state trespasser that threatens to harm all we hold dear, starting with water and wine. Being arrested for trespassing in order to make that point only helps reinforce it. And water is, fundamentally, what this fight is all about. We Are Seneca Lake is an ongoing, citizen-based civil disobedience campaign that seeks to protect Seneca Lake and the surrounding region from gas storage expansion by Texas-based energy company, Crestwood Midstream. Crestwood’s intention is to repurpose the crumbling salt mines underneath Seneca Lake’s hillside into massive gas tanks for the highly-pressurized products of fracking: methane, propane and butane. Seneca Lake, a source of drinking water for 100,000 people, is a very deep lake that drains very slowly. A contamination event, hydrologists tell us, would linger not days or weeks but over a time scale measured by human generations.

Seneca Lake Protesters Declare: ‘We Are Planting Our Flag’

January 21, 2015 Lauren McCauley, www.commondreams.org Resist! Energy, Environment, MLK, New York (NY), Seneca Lake

Twenty people were arrested blocking the entrance to Texas-based energy company Crestwood Midstream on Monday, bringing the total number of arrests since the actions began late October to 200 people. The group is protesting plans to turn the region's salt caverns into a storage facility for gases extracted during fracking operations. Despite strong local opposition and what the group says are "grave" geological and public health concerns, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently approved construction of the storage infrastructure on the west side of Seneca Lake. With the Martin Luther King Jr. Day demonstration, the diverse group of protesters paid homage to the lessons learned from the civil rights movement.

The Changing Civil Disobedience Movement To Save Seneca Lake

January 3, 2015 Faith Meckley, www.theithacan.org Educate! Civil Disobedience, Law, Seneca Lake

By the time everyone had settled in, we had changed our strategy. Instead of pleading guilty and refusing our fines, we would all plead not guilty. I glared at the back of the chair in front of me as everyone went up, one by one. Something didn’t seem right. How could we know for sure they had taken away the jail option? The district attorney had left after Salamendra’s case, and he wasn’t here to breath down Judge Berry’s neck anymore. I stood and went over to stand next to Steingraber, who was in the midst of conversation with another person. “I think we should have one person plead guilty, just to see what happens,” she said as I approached, her eyes sliding knowingly to mine. “I’ll do it,” I said. If I could break through and get to jail tonight, it would be big news.

Santa and Mrs. Claus, 7 Elves Arrested At Seneca Lake

December 23, 2014 We Are Seneca Lake, www.youtube.com Resist! Energy, Environment, Seneca Lake

Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and 7 Elves Arrested Today Blocking Crestwood Gas Storage Facility, Marking 170 Arrests in Two-Month-Old Civil Disobedience Campaign. Carrying banners that declared “Christmas Against Crestwood” and “Methane in Your Stocking is Worse Than Coal,” on December 22, 2014, Santa, Mrs. Claus, and seven elves stood in solidarity with We Are Seneca Lake to protest the proposed Crestwood project to store methane, propane, and butane gas in unstable salt caverns next to Seneca Lake. 170 people have been arrested over the past two months in civil disobedience against this project. Almost all the towns have passed resolutions opposing it, but FERC approved the methane storage anyway and the LPG has only the DEC standing in its way.

40 Arrests At Seneca Lake

December 19, 2014 WBNG, www.wbng.com Resist! Environment, Seneca Lake

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.

41 People Arrested Protesting Crestwood Gas Storage

December 17, 2014 We Are Seneca Lake, www.youtube.com Resist! Energy, Environment, Seneca Lake

Protesters have been blocking the Crestwood gas storage facility gates since Thursday, October 23. On Tuesday, December 16th, over 40 people were arrested, the largest number arrested in a single day. Many of them were teachers. The unified We Are Seneca Lake protests started on October 23rd because Friday, October 24th marked the day that major new construction on the gas storage facility was authorized to begin. The ongoing acts of civil disobedience come after the community pursued every possible avenue to stop the project and after being thwarted by an unacceptable process and denial of science. The protests are taking place at the gates of the Crestwood compressor station site on the shore of Seneca Lake, the largest of New York’s Finger Lakes.

We Are Seneca Lake Blockade Going Strong

December 11, 2014 Zoe Loftus-Farren, www.earthisland.org Resist! Energy, Environment, Law, Seneca Lake

For six weeks, We Are Seneca Lake campaigners have braved freezing weather in western New York to block expansion of a methane storage project adjacent to Seneca Lake, the largest of the Finger Lakes. Campaigners believe the storage project threatens to contaminate Seneca Lake, which provides drinking water to 100,000 people in upstate New York. With 92 arrests for trespassing while blocking the gates to the storage facility, the campaign seems to be picking up steam. The We Are Seneca Lake movement took shape on October 23 when protesters blocked the gates to Texas-based energy company Crestwood Midstream’s storage facility north of Watkins Glen, NY. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorized Crestwood to begin expansion of its methane storage facility beginning on October 24.

Learning The Jails

December 9, 2014 Faith Meckley, www.viridorari.blogspot.com Resist! Civil Disobedience, Energy, Environment, Jail, Protest, Seneca Lake

I've never had much experience with jails. I was briefly introduced to a holding cell in Washington D.C.'s Anacostia police station in March of this year after refusing to move from the White House sidewalk while protesting the KXL Pipeline. I stood in there for ten minutes with five other female college students before I was processed and released. However, I now find myself quickly becoming familiarized with the procedures and expectations of Schuyler, Chemung, and Yates County Jails as the We Are Seneca Lake civil disobedience campaign continues into December.Schuyler County does not house women. Schuyler also does not constantly heat the jail, and it often gets cold. It is important to bring in spare clothing for inmates within 24 hours of their incarceration so they can stay warm.

Power Of Protest: Seneca Lake Judge Reconsiders Sentences

December 9, 2014 Charlie Haeffner, www.odessafile.com Resist! Blockade, Fracking, Nonviolence, Seneca Lake

"Judge Berry told us tonight he doesn't like to jail people because sometimes his granddaughter stops speaking to him." That's true, too. He did. In fact, as I sit here recalling that particular evening, the judge said a number of things that were interesting, if only for the fact that other court sessions -- at least those I've observed -- don't veer as readily into the interpersonal. The evening was noteworthy too because the direction of court cases there (at least those begging jail sentences) took an abrupt turn. The prevailing philosophy went from "Go Directly to Jail for 15 Days" to "Let's Talk About It." "I don't like putting people in jail," he said, adding that he has a granddaughter who doesn't like it either, and on occasion "doesn't speak to me" because his job requires such difficult decisions. "For those of you who have a grandchild," he said, "to have a granddaughter" react like that "is terrible."

Jimmy Goes To Jail For Justice At Seneca Lake

December 4, 2014 Jimmy Betts, www.facebook.com Resist! Civil Disobedience, Energy, Environment, Seneca Lake

The following is a positive action that I am voluntarily undertaking. Just because “jail” is used, please try to recondition your immediate aversion to this word. This is a time to quell your fears and see that there is a method and organized strategy for that which I choose to do and those with whom I work with directly. There are appropriate times to go to jail. This is one of those times, and for many people who know what is at stake, there will be specific times in the future where this type of non-violent action will be needed. It is a privilege to have a system, flawed as it is, that allows one to protest, advocate, and civilly disobey without being publicly executed. At this time, in spite of my own financial hardships, it is an honour and privilege to have the support and option for monetary support for legal fees from a coalition of phenomenal local organizers that comprise We Are Seneca Lake (WASL).

Activists Arrested In Battle Against Fracking “Gateway Drug” In NY

November 23, 2014 Molly Bennet, www.inthesetimes.com Resist! Blockades, Fracking, Seneca Lake

“These are just ordinary people who have exhausted every possible means of expressing their opposition and are at wits’ end,” says Yvonne Taylor, a co-founder of Gas Free Seneca, a group formed in 2011 to oppose the Crestwood projects. One major concern cited by the protesters is the geological stability of the salt caverns where the gas would be stored, and the risk of a disaster such as an explosion or collapse in the salt caves, that could lead to human casualties and ecological devastation. “These caverns were never designed to hold hydrocarbon gases,” says Steingraber, who lives with her family in nearby Trumansburg and is one of the organizers of We Are Seneca Lake, the group that is staging the blockades. “If you wanted to design a structure to safely store a whole bunch of compressed, explosive hydrocarbon gases underground, the architect wouldn’t come up with this plan. This is just accidental space that’s left over.” This year, Rob MacKenzie, the former CEO of Cayuga Medical Center, performed a risk analysis of the Crestwood LPG project. According to his findings, there is a more than 40 percent chance that a disaster of “serious or extremely serious consequences” will occur over the next 25 years, whether in the caverns themselves or during the transport of the gas to the facilities via truck and rail, another fear of the opponents of the project.

Steingraber: Who Will Come For The Lawbreakers Inside?

November 21, 2014 Sandra Steingraber, www.steingraber.com Resist! Food and Agriculture, Fracking, Seneca Lake

Sixteen We Are Seneca Lake protesters will face charges tonight—some at 5 pm and some at 7 pm—for peaceful acts of civil disobedience in the form of trespassing at the gates of Crestwood. I am one of them, and it’s likely that I will not be returning home tonight. We Are Seneca Lake is a campaign that was born on October 23, which the date of our first blockade, after we learned that approval had been granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to expand the storage of methane in crumbling salt caverns that underlie the west bank of Seneca Lake. In granting this approval, the federal government swept aside demonstrable evidence for reckless risks, including methane leakage, salt cavern collapse, and salination of our lake. These are all problems that have vexed other gas storage facilities similarly created from unlined, interbedded salt caverns.

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