URGENT – FERC COMMENT Period Deadline 11/1

There are 2 ways to submit comments to FERC directly.  For both ways, you will need the Docket Number, which is CP13-83:

1) For comments that are shorter than 6,000 characters, go to https://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ecomment.asp.  You can type your comments in directly and hit submit.  The process is fairly straight-forward and FERC walks you through it step-by-step.

2) For comments that are longer than 6,000 characters, go to https://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp.  You will need to create an account (enter your name, email, etc. and choose a login name and password).  Once you have logged in, click on eFiling.  In the Filing Type screen, select General, Comment (on Filing, Environ. Report, or Tech Conf), and Comment. In the Select Docket screen, enter CP13-83, click search, then click the blue plus sign that will appear on the right-hand side of the screen.  Once CP-13-83-000 appears under “selected dockets”, click Next.  At “File Upload” click Browse, select your file, enter a quick description (something like “Comments on EA”), click upload, click on Next once the file appears under “files loaded”.  At “specific Filing Parties” if you are filing on behalf of an organization, search for the organization (you also can add a new organization) or simply file as an individual.  The rest should be pretty easy to do if you follow the step-by-step instructions.

All comments need to be filed with FERC by 5PM Eastern time on October 15, 2013.

Possible Talking Points:

I am writing in regard to the Environmental Assessment (EA) your agency prepared for the Gallery 2 Expansion Project proposed by Arlington Storage Company, a subsidiary of Inergy Midstream.

In the EA, your agency claims that the project will have no significant impact.

But your EA failed to fully account for the cumulative impacts posed by a liquid petroleum gas storage project planned for an adjacent site. Namely your agency has failed to conduct even a basic analysis of the combined air pollution from the two projects, including from an aged compressor station and from increased truck traffic. At a minimum, these combined air impacts must be studied and addressed.

Furthermore, these projects have been the subject of much local controversy. Concerned about threats to the local economy, which is heavily dependent on tourism, 170 local businesses so far have officially signed on to oppose the projects to date. In light of the socioeconomic impacts posed by the pair of projects, your agency should find that the proposal is not in the public interest.

At a minimum, your agency should carefully weigh the projects’ combined impacts against the so-called “no action alternative,” something it has so far failed to do.

Keep Fracked Gas Storage Industry From Tunneling Into New York

One such project is on the shores of Seneca Lake, in a region that an out-of-state energy company named Inergy wants to turn into a gas storage hub, starting with a proposal to expand storage of fracked gas in abandoned salt caverns alongside the lake.

The people of Seneca Lake have fought hard to protect their beloved lake and local economy: organizing local residents, businesses, and elected officials to oppose these projects. But now they need your help.

The more people who speak up now, the more state leaders will be forced to acknowledge the opposition that is mounting across the state against these latest attempts by the oil and gas industry to force itself into places it’s not wanted.

Today, it’s a gas storage project on the banks of Seneca Lake. Tomorrow it could be a massive project in your community.

If you believe that New York needs to invest in sustainable, local economies instead of locking into a fossil-fuel dependent future, take action today!