As MDN told you last week, Crestwood Equity (formerly Crestwood Midstream) applied for and got a two-year extension on a proposed liquid propane gas (LPG) storage facility along the shoreline of Seneca Lake in a depleted salt cavern (see Stalled Seneca Lake Propane Storage Project Gets FERC Extension). The new news (for us) is that Crestwood could have started construction on the facility even without permission from New York State’s dysfunctional Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC). However, Crestwood chose to keep the peace with and not rile the DEC and so instead elected to keep waiting via the FERC extension. We know how filing for an extension worked out for the Constitution Pipeline (see NY Gov. Cuomo Refuses to Grant Permits for Constitution Pipeline). Yes, Crestwood could/should have begun construction–but didn’t. There’s a new wrinkle in this whole mess. The official NY State Geologist needs to approve the project before the DEC will sign off. The State Geologist, who works not for the DEC but for the state Dept. of Education, left and has not been replaced. The Dept. of Education has no plans to hire a new geologist any time soon. How convenient. Here’s the story of the ongoing delays with the Seneca Lake Storage Project, delayed since 2009 by the NY DEC and now by the NY Dept. of Education…
