Crestwood Scores Big Victory in Seneca Lake LPG Storage Project

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This news is a bit dated, but still important. Crestwood Equity (used to be called Crestwood Midstream) won an important court victory in September regarding its plan to build an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas, or propane) storage facility in depleted salt caverns in New York. In 2009 Inergy filed a request to convert a depleted salt cavern along the shore of Seneca Lake (in Schuyler County, NY, near Watkins Glen) into a propane/natural gas storage facility. Inergy was later bought by and merged into Crestwood Midstream, and Crestwood Midstream later renamed itself Crestwood Equity Partners. The New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has been sitting on its hands from the beginning, refusing to grant the necessary permits to allow the facility to open. Earlier this year Crestwood scaled back its plans, dropping natgas storage but keeping LPG storage (see Crestwood Drops Seneca Lake Natgas Storage Plan, Keeps LPG Plan). In September, a chief administrative law judge, part of the DEC, ruled against antis who are demanding ongoing, never-ending hearings about the project--a transparent tactic to continue the years-long delay in perpetuity. The judge said the DEC has all the evidence it needs to make a decision. Of course, the decision will get made by a radical anti who heads up the DEC--Basil Seggos (part of the National Resources Defense Council cabal that opposes all fossil fuel projects). So the project still has miles to go before it becomes reality. Perhaps insurmountable miles. But, let's enjoy this major victory against antis, spun as a minor victory by profoundly biased "reporter" Tom Wilbur in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin...

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