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Toxics Targeting says state records reveal problems at LPG storage site in Bath

12/22/17




WATKINS GLEN — Toxics Targeting Inc., an environmental database firm in Ithaca, announced this week that previously unreleased state reports reveal a fire, explosion and illegal wastewater discharges at a Liquefied Petroleum Gas storage facility in Bath, Steuben County.

Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting said the LPG storage is similar to the one proposed for the town of Reading north of Watkins Glen in Schuyler County on the western shore of Seneca Lake.

At a Wednesday press conference, Hang said he posted the reports on his website for public review. The incidents occurred in 2009 and 2012 at a facility owned by Inergy Midstream, the precursor to Crestwood Midstream LLC, which owns the Reading facility.

“This information further documents that New York authorities have long failed to prevent or clean up on a comprehensive basis, environmental and public health hazards at LPG and natural gas storage sites, as well as compressed gas truck and rail transfer facilities in the state,” Hang said. “We are again documenting the state’s shocking inability to prevent massive fossil fuel storage facilities from contaminating the environment or threatening public health.”

He said the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s own documents reveal the agency has repeatedly failed to prevent major pollution hazards at LPG sites in the state or to clean them up to state standards.

Hang said the reports support arguments by opponents of the Crestwood Midstream LLC proposal to store LPG in abandoned underground salt caverns at a 576-acre site in Reading.

“It would be irresponsible of Governor Cuomo to authorize additional massive fossil fuel storage and transfer facilities in New York, given the state’s deplorable record of regulatory non-compliance,” Hang said.

He said LPG storage in Reading would imperil Seneca Lake “for decades to come.”

Crestwood officials claim their plans would allow for the safe storage of the LPG.