1199SEIU’s Executive Committee should be commended for taking a stand on July 27 and unanimously passing a resolution opposing industrialized gas storage and transport on Central New York’s Seneca Lake. Even though New York State banned the practice of natural gas fracking, the Finger Lakes region has been slated to become the largest fracked-gas storage and transport hub for the Northeastern United States. Seneca Lake will be its epicenter.
Seneca contains 4.2 trillion gallons of fresh water, and is the largest fresh-water lake within New York’s borders. It’s an important source of drinking water for the local community. It also provides natural habitat and sustains a thriving tourism industry, on which much of the local economy depends. The Finger Lakes Region is home to many world-class wineries.
An out-of-state corporation purchased the US Salt Company on the Lake’s western side for the sole purpose of storing compressed natural gas and derivatives from fracked gas in the area’s unlined, depleted salt caverns. The company’s plan includes major infrastructural risks to the Lake that will only provide 8-10 jobs in the community. The industrialization puts our health and economic security at risk by threatening our drinking water, our precious natural resources and the tourism industry in the Finger Lakes.
The list of concerns about this plan runs as deep as the lake itself, including a lack of cavern integrity, fault lines, risk of accident and explosion. Gas Free Seneca and all of the people in the Finger Lakes region applaud 1199SEIU for supporting our efforts to move away from dirty industry and toward renewable energy.
YVONNE TAYLOR
Co-Founder and VP, Gas Free Seneca,
Watkins Glen, NY
Editor’s Note: Nearly 7,000 1199SEIU members live in the Seneca Lake region. The project threatens the water supply of 100,000 people. The organization Gas Free Seneca helped bring the resolution before the Union’s Executive Committee. Follow the conversation on social media at #SaveSenecaLake.
Let’s hear from you. Send your letters to: 1199SEIU’s Our Life And Times, 330 W. 42nd St, 7th Fl., New York, NY 10036 Attn: Patricia Kenney, Editor or email them to Patriciak@1199.org and please put Letters in the subject of your email.
Read more from the official 1199SEIU magazine ‘Our Life and Times’
Seneca contains 4.2 trillion gallons of fresh water, and is the largest fresh-water lake within New York’s borders. It’s an important source of drinking water for the local community. It also provides natural habitat and sustains a thriving tourism industry, on which much of the local economy depends. The Finger Lakes Region is home to many world-class wineries.
An out-of-state corporation purchased the US Salt Company on the Lake’s western side for the sole purpose of storing compressed natural gas and derivatives from fracked gas in the area’s unlined, depleted salt caverns. The company’s plan includes major infrastructural risks to the Lake that will only provide 8-10 jobs in the community. The industrialization puts our health and economic security at risk by threatening our drinking water, our precious natural resources and the tourism industry in the Finger Lakes.
The list of concerns about this plan runs as deep as the lake itself, including a lack of cavern integrity, fault lines, risk of accident and explosion. Gas Free Seneca and all of the people in the Finger Lakes region applaud 1199SEIU for supporting our efforts to move away from dirty industry and toward renewable energy.
YVONNE TAYLOR
Co-Founder and VP, Gas Free Seneca,
Watkins Glen, NY
Editor’s Note: Nearly 7,000 1199SEIU members live in the Seneca Lake region. The project threatens the water supply of 100,000 people. The organization Gas Free Seneca helped bring the resolution before the Union’s Executive Committee. Follow the conversation on social media at #SaveSenecaLake.
Let’s hear from you. Send your letters to: 1199SEIU’s Our Life And Times, 330 W. 42nd St, 7th Fl., New York, NY 10036 Attn: Patricia Kenney, Editor or email them to Patriciak@1199.org and please put Letters in the subject of your email.
Read more from the official 1199SEIU magazine ‘Our Life and Times’
