Arrests Mount as 'We Are Seneca Lake' Campaign Enters Fourth Week

Close to 50 climate activists have been arrested over several weeks as part of an ongoing civil disobedience campaign in opposition to a gas storage facility on the shore of Seneca Lake in central New York.

Eight protesters were arrested on Tuesday morning for blockading the gates to Texas-based Crestwood Midstream’s compressor station site; an additional 10 had been arrested Monday. There have been 43 arrests total since the ‘We Are Seneca Lake’ grassroots action began in late October. 

Crestwood seeks to store methane and liquified natural gas in old underground salt caverns. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), gave the Crestwood Midstream expansion plans the go-ahead last month.

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Local activists are concerned about the facility’s potential impact on agriculture, drinking water, tourism, and public health and see approval of Crestwood’s proposal as laying the groundwork for expansion of fracking infrastructure throughout the region. The caverns are located a few hundred miles from the booming natural gas fields of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania and close to two gas pipeline routes.

Joining the protesters on Monday were participants in the Great March for Climate Action, a 3,000-mile walk from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. that took place between March and November. After spending a week in Washington D.C. blockading the entrances of FERC’s headquarters every day, some of the Marchers came to the Finger Lakes to help stop Crestwood’s FERC-approved expansion project. 

Among them was Ithaca College student Faith Meckley, who was born and raised in nearby Geneva, New York. She was arrested as part of the action on Monday.