New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation has shot down a plan nine years in the making to store large volumes of natural gas and propane in salt caves beneath Seneca Lake.
Crestwood Midstream Partners hoped to develop the gas storage facility beneath the western edge of the lake were a salt brine plant now stands. More than 100 years of mining created caverns in the salt that would have become storage for some 1.5 million barrels of propane. The DEC’s 30-page decision issued Thursday denies the company’s permit request.
DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said the project is inconsistent with the character of…the Finger Lakes Community.” Seggos wrote that the project could have significant adverse and unmitigated impacts on the Finger Lakes.
Crestwood has battled since 2009 against environmentalists, winery owners and local businesses who opposed the plan and its possible effects on the region’s tourism-driven economy.