WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (WENY) -- The Schuyler County Legislature is no longer supporting the proposed Finger Lakes LPG (Stagecoach) Storage Facility Project, which would store gas in underground salt caverns beneath Seneca Lake. 

The full legislature unanimously approved a resolution Monday night, withdrawing its support - first issued in 2014 and again in 2016. The move comes after parent-company, Crestwood, issued a letter stating that pressure testing done in some of the salt caverns revealed, essentially, a lack of integrity. 

"We had talked to the technical staff at DEC who indicated they felt it was approvable for permitting. It reached the Commissioner's desk...he never got a green light from the governor to approve the project so it's languished. Then it went through an Administrative Law Judge. He finally, basically with his ruling, I believe he more or less approved the project. And then this bombshell came out through the letter from the applicant, and that we felt was sufficient reason to rescind our support," Fagan says. 

The overall scope of the project was scaled back in August of 2016 eliminating butane storage, along with rail and tanker trucks moving product in and out of the facility. The recent findings of the pressure testing is what ultimately drove the legislature to withdraw its support. 

"Crestwood sent a letter to the DEC recently indicating that a solution mining well that was recently drilled, they found some communication with other wells. And that is totally contrary to all of the documentation and support that they provided in their original application for permit," says Fagan. 

Fagan added there is no indication as to when further testing will be done.

A copy of the resolution passed tonight (No. 2) can be viewed here: https://www.schuylercounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/3225/Regular-Meeting-Agenda-and-Resolutions

                                        Crestwood Subsidiary to Perform Pressure Testing of Salt Caverns in Watkins Glen