New York Issues Draft Permit For Finger Lakes Cavern Storage

New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has issued a draft permit for Crestwood Midstream Partners’ long-delayed Finger Lakes initiative, a project that would see 2.1 MMbbl of propane and butane stored in salt caverns in Schuyler County, N.Y. However, DEC emphasizes that release of the draft permit does not signal approval, or even a timely decision on the project, which has been under review for five years.

The agency has scheduled an “issues conference” for Feb. 12 due to what it terms is “extensive public interest” in the proposal. That interest has been evidenced by mass arrests of protesters, some of whom have chained themselves to fences and gates, trespassed on Crestwood property, blocked traffic, and failed to disperse when ordered to do so by police. Opponents have linked the project to the wider issue of environmentalist opposition to hydraulic fracturing.

The storage facility would be in existing caverns in the Syracuse salt formation created by salt production operations on a portion of a 576-acre site west of Seneca Lake in Reading, N.Y. The facility would connect to the TEPPCO pipeline, and would ship LPG by pipeline, truck, and rail. As proposed, the project involves construction of a rail and truck transfer facility capable of operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Brine displaced by LPG would be stored in two double-lined ponds with a capacity of 7.14 MMgal. and 33.6 MMgal., respectively.

Earlier, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) cleared the way for construction to begin on an expansion of Crestwood’s existing natural gas storage at Finger Lakes. While FERC has jurisdiction over the natural gas storage portion of the project, DEC has the final say over the storage of LPG. Crestwood’s storage hub would be located in several dozen salt caverns on the west shore of Seneca Lake near Watkins Glen, N.Y. The company continues to mine salt at the site. FERC has allowed Crestwood to expand its working gas capacity from 1.45 Bcf to 2 Bcf.