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Environmental Analyst: NG Advantage Misleading Fenton Residents
TOWN OF FENTON, NY -
A study conducted by four environmental experts reveals NG Advantage is misleading residents by comparing its proposed natural gas site in Fenton to the one in Milton, Vermont.
"It's irrefutable, I don't see how anyone could say that the two sites are similar," said Walter Hang, Toxics Targeting President.
According to Hang there are ten times more sensitive receptors (homes, schools, parks, places of worship, etc.) within a one mile radius of the Fenton location compared to the Milton site. In total there are more than 2,000 homes and businesses at risk in Fenton compared to just 200 in Milton.
"There are too many homes, too many commercial buildings where there could be hundreds of people congregating, so this is really not an appropriate location for this kind of facility," said Hang.
NG Advantage CEO, Rico Biasetti has called the Milton location very similar to the one in Fenton.
Hang and a group of three researchers compiled local, state, and federal environmental data of both the NG Advantage location in Milton and the proposed site in Fenton. They applied the data onto maps to identify how land is zoned - agricultural, industrial or residential.
"The two locations are nothing alike, they're completely different," said Hang.
Assembly members call to stop Cayuga Lake salt mining expansion
LANSING, N.Y. -- There's a new call to stop the expansion of salt mining under Cayuga Lake - and to move operations out from under the water.
Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton wrote a letter to the DEC detailing concerns with the Cargill Cayuga Salt Mine.
She says an expansion under the lake could potentially cause major risks, in the event of mine failure.
Lifton referenced the Retsof Mine collapse in Livingston County in 1994, saying it caused sink holes, property damage and polluted water.
She says her team's main concerns are protecting the lake and ensuring its sustainability.
But some former mine workers and other legislators say there is no problem with the mine remaining under the lake.
"The DEC has signed off on the project. They are the scientists that have signed off on this," said Mike Sigler, a Tompkins County legislator. "So they are denying the science from the state and listening to other people who really don't know what they're talking about."
"This is something serious that I think the state ought to look at," said Lifton. "I'm not making a final judgment call, that's not my expertise or authority."
Cargill's Salt Mine manager says the mine gets inspected once a year.
Assemblywoman Lifton calls for moratorium on lake salt mining
A request for a moratorium on salt mining under Cayuga Lake has drawn sharp disagreement from Cargill Cayuga Salt Mine representatives.
Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, D-Ithaca, and Assemblyman Steve Englebright, D-Suffolk County, chair of the Assembly's Committee on Environmental Conservation and a geology professor at SUNY Stoneybrook, wrote a letter July 13 to the Department of Environmental Conservation requesting a moratorium on new permits and approvals for mining under the lake.
The move followed a presentation by geologist and SUNY Geneseo Professor Richard Young on what he said were risks that would be imposed by mining during a meeting with state DEC officials in June.
Prior to the proposed moratorium, Cargill began pushing for the creation of a fourth mine shaft that would aid in the company's mining operations by providing access and ventilation to miners. It currently takes workers 45 minutes to arrive at a mining site.
Lifton compared catastrophic events that she said could happen to Cayuga Lake to a Retsof mine collapse in Livingston County in 1994 that caused sink holes and property damage. On Thursday at the Cayuga Lakefront at Stewart Park, she said mining under the lake would create a risk that could pollute the lake and contaminate drinking water for thousands of people.
Walter Hang, of Toxics Tageting, and Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton respond to questions about the Cargill Cayuga Salt Mine.
(Photo: Matt Steecker / Staff photo)
Along with Walter Hang, of Toxics Targeting, who explained geologic conditions that he said would contribute to catastrophe, Lifton said Cargill should only be allowed to mine on the adjoining dry land, which she said is able to provide enough salt.
Hang said Young's data shows geologic horizontal forces pushing in from the sides of the valley that became Cayuga Lake. According to Young, these opposing horizontal forces can have the effect of creating a force that's moving up from the bottom of Cayuga Lake, just like the upward force at Retsof. Hang also added that efforts should be taken to keep Cayuga Lake protected because it is already on the New York State Section 303(d) List of Impaired Water Bodies.
The DEC has already sent a letter to Cargill advising the company to contact property owners about mining on dry land, Lifton said.
"This approach would preserve local jobs important to me while protecting Cayuga Lake — a completely sensible course of action that observes what we call the precautionary principle: prevent problems because they are hard and often impossible to remedy after," Lifton said.
The Cargill salt mine in Lansing was closed for nearly two months in January and February 2016 after an elevator malfunction trapped 17 miners 900 feet underground for 10 hours.
At the conference, Lifton and Hang drew criticism from Cargill representatives during their announcement on Thursday for not having had discussions with Cargill or having enough significant discussions with local government officials before Lifton requested the moratorium from the DEC. Lifton said she did not meet with the Lansing Town Board before sending the letter to the DEC.
Some in attendance were concerned of the effect the moratorium would have on Lansing.
"It's extremely disappointing you don't seek the other side," said Shawn Wilczynski, mine manager of the Cargill Cayuga Salt Mine, to Lifton.
Wilczynski said there is no current threat mining operations pose to the lake. He based this assessment off of independent studies Cargill conducts each year as well as independent third-party studies. Altogether, he says three or four studies are done each year.
Lawmakers calling on DEC to stop salt mine expansion
ITHACA (WENY) - Cayuga Salt Mine has been in operation for nearly 100 years. Now, Lawmakers are calling on the DEC to put an end to under water expansion.
Cargill recently applied for more permits, allowing it to expand its current operation north up the lake. Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton announced Thursday, that she and Assemblyman Steve Englebright, Chair of the Assembly’s Committee on Environmental Conservation, drafted a joint letter to the DEC asking to block their request and subsequent requests.
Lifton and Englebright say, mining under Cayuga Lake could pose potentially catastrophic risks. “Anyone who wants to understand the catastrophic consequences of a mine collapse should study what happened when the Retsof mine collapsed in Livingston County in 1994,” said Lifton. “It caused sink holes and major property damage."
But what are the chances of a collapse like that happening again. Walter Hang, President of Toxics Targeting says he couldn't say. "If heaven forbid there were ever a catastrophic failure in that mine. It would very likely flood and cause irreparable pollution problems in that lake."
Right now, Cayuga Lake serves as a fresh water resource for more than 30,000 people. Officials say, this is one of their main concerns. But Shawn Wilczynski, the Mine Manager of Cargill, Lansing says, "he sustainability of the lake. As I mentions it's absolutely critical to the employees at Cargill. And we are members of the community as well.as are our families our friends and everything else."
Mike Sigler, the Tompkins County Legislature is asking, why it wasn't "unsafe 30 years ago. It's because it isn't unsafe. The mine knows what it's doing." Adding, his concern for the miners themselves; "Of course there's going to be a loss of jobs."
It's not know how the DEC will respond to Lifton and Englebright's letter.