David Crea
Process, Energy & Reliability Engineer, Watkins Glen, NY
(David Crea is employed by US Salt but speaks here for himself only)

Gas Free Seneca, opponent of propane storage in the Watkins Glen area, portrays itself as “Little Red Riding Hood” in a battle with “The Big Bad Wolf,” but it’s just the opposite. This is Part II. Read Part I here.

Part I of our story provided the background, but let’s get to the formation of the “concerned citizen activist group” Gas Free Seneca.  We come to early 2010, and as if by magic, an arm of Ithaca’s Park Foundation (and the Rockefeller family’s Sustainable Markets Foundation) calling itself “Gas Free Seneca” sprang-up to do “community-organizing and public education” to fight the proposed LPG storage Project (and later in 2013 to fight an expansion of Natural Gas Storage in another cavity – “Cavity 2”).  For their whole history, see their Facebook postings at www.facebook.com/gasfreseneca, or their web site at www.gasfreeseneca.com.

Gas Free Seneca Hypocrisy

Two local Gas Free Seneca co-founders living at the same address and taking the “community organizer” role were Yvonne Taylor (an Ithaca high school teacher) and Dr. Joseph Campbell, a former Naples chiropractor, who gave up his Naples practice about 12 years ago and now spends his time pursuing causes such as Gas Free Seneca’s battle against propane and natural gas storage.

Ms. Taylor’s hypocritical use of propane for her new lake cottage was previously covered by NaturalGasNow.org here. The hypocrisy of some wineries opposed to LPG storage, but using large amounts of propane themselves was also addressed in another post.

As part of their “community organizing” efforts the GFS organizers strong-armed wineries and businesses around Seneca Lake to come up with now about 200 that have signed-on to their “Business Coalition Against LPG Storage”.  Most of these are family-scale operations or single-person businesses who signed-up because it was politically correct to do so, and because the GFS leaders told them the “world would end for them” if the LPG storage facility went in.  That list of businesses can be found here.

Not surprisingly, almost all businesses in Watkins Glen shied away from participating in this.  The old-timers there had seen other cycles of “Ithacans” coming to town to tell them what was good for them, and did not appreciate it.  Others have used this list to know whom to boycott by not giving them their OWN business.  Being a supporter of “The Ithacans” has its consequences. At least one Watkins Glen business had its name removed after this negative-impact on profitability was pointed-out to the owner.  Another Watkins Glen business owner publicly disavowed Gas Free Seneca (he initially was a vocal supporter) when he figured out he’d been deceived by their claims.

The previous instances of “the Ithacans coming to town to tell us what to think and do” were connected to a potential factory, which didn’t progress to anything after their opposition, and then WalMart’s Superstore, which DID get built starting in 2002.

The “Ithacans” involved in the current opposition to LPG storage collectively come from Ithaca and its bedroom-community of Hector on the east side of Seneca Lale.  They crossed the lake to the Town of Reading on the west shore, so as to tell, what in their minds were “hickish” Town of Reading residents, what to think and do.

To say Town of Reading residents are just “different in thinking and sociology” to the Ithacans would be a huge understatement.  The cultural difference is akin to Liberal-Progressives compared to TEA Party Conservatives.

And, though able to “pack the room” with out-of-area activists, the Ithacans were not well-received by the locals – surprise, surprise!  They got nowhere with the Town of Reading officials, who did their due diligence with the permitting for the LPG Storage Facility over about a year while the facility was designed, with input, and then approval, from the Town Planning Board and then the Schuyler County Planning Board.

But, then the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) took over as “Lead Agency” for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and that was where the Ithacans have since made their mark. They appear to have had the collaboration of DEC Commissioner Joe Martens, who previously headed the Open Space Institute, an offshoot of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Governor Andrew Cuomo, sweetheart of the New York City and Ithaca progressives crowd.

Gas Free Senecans or Gas Filled Ithacans?

The Ithacans have used DEC’s rules to bury it in meaningless work and delays.  DEC is required to review and examine and respond to each public comment it receives.  They have flooded the agency with photo-copied objections signed by different people from affected, as well as many unaffected, areas as a delay tactic. Their strategy is to smother the project with paper. It’s not going to work in this instance, but it is the typical M.O. of the NIMBY and the faux environmentalists that so many of the Ithacans represent.

Their campaign also led to some absolutely hilarious examples of hypocrisy. This politically correct yard sign became the hallmark of a Gas Free Seneca supporter…

…as did this bumper sticker:

Comically, some propane users, who obviously didn’t think it through first, did the “PC” thing and decided to protest the storage and delivery infrastructure that they depended upon leading to sights such as this one in Irelandville, NY:

And, then we have the laughable-hypocrisy of many wineries, best-typified by The Pompous Ass Winery, which is so aptly named.  They use propane, but desire to be politically-correct, so have joined the Business Coalition Against LPG Storage.  NaturalGasNow.org has already skewered them with this photo:

Conversely, the Stamp family’s Lakewood Vineyards, the neighbor directly to the north of the gas storage Area, refuses to participate in this silliness.  The Stamps are a solid, multi-generation Town of Reading family.  They were in fact one of the ‘early’ wineries, and now have 25 years of great-tasting history.

So, I would encourage all readers to give them your business, and say hi to the Stamp family members for me when you do.  The matriarch, Beverly Stamp, is on the Reading Town Board.  And, the Lakewood Winery’s roof is covered by SOLAR PANELS, which make more power than they use.  Yes, you can have your wine, be energy-conscious and proactive and not be hypocritical!

This is the setting, but there’s much more to the story. Part III, tomorrow, will examine the creative myths generated by the Gas Free Senecans (or should I say Gas Filled Ithacans) in their fevered frenzy opposition to LPG storage.