Flint, Mi, Porter Ranch, Ca, & Seneca Lake

Flint, Mi, Porter Ranch, Ca & Seneca Lake in NY sadly have much in common. The common factors have to do with risk, transparency, accountability, regulatory oversight and much more. In Flint poor people and people of color and their kids have basically been poisoned by people who should have known better. Some kids will be impacted for the rest of their lives. Their parents and state officials will spend millions, perhaps billions of dollars dealing with the harm that has been done to these children. It all happened while county, state and federal officials responsible for environmental oversight and protection of people and water sat on their hands and dismissed concerned citizens as 'complainers'.

In Porter Ranch a huge methane leak from underground storage has negated most of California's environmental accomplishments over the past decade. The obvious question is where were the regulators and state officials in this case? The massive leak has been spewing methane gas into the environment for months with no end in sight. The impact on the climate and on people will have a major impact and a state of emergency has been put in place by the Governor.

Which brings us to Seneca Lake in upstate New York.  Crestwood Midstream plans on increasing the storage of methane and LPGas in salt caverns along the shores of this magnificent lake, which is the drinking water source for over 100,000 residents all around this body of water. The arguments for the expansion have to do with 11-15 jobs and $600,000 of tax revenue to one county where the project is located. Citizens have been raising health and safety concerns for six or seven years. Questions about risk and who will be able to respond to potential environmental damage have continued to be asked. Close to 500 arrests for civil disobedience at the gates of Crestwood have taken place. NYS DEC, FERC and the US EPA have all downplayed the risks while questions have been raised about dangers, salinity of Seneca Lake water and risk management. Local government officials who are supporting and promoting the use of salt caverns are hanging their hats on the regulatory officials and past history of lower volume storage.

So there you have it. Three communities in three different places trying to get answers and depending on political leaders and regulatory agencies in representing their interests relative to the environment and clean water. One trying to plug a leak that shouldn't have happened, one dealing with the impact of ruined water and lives and one, trying to prevent a future catastrophe before it happens. In the midst of all of this people in power question motives, call people troublemakers and outsiders. I hope we learn something from all of this and don't allow Flint or Porter Ranch to become the standard.