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148 Wines&Vines January 2015 wine industry news wine eAst A lbany, N.Y.—Two events with implica- tions for the future of natural gas drill- ing in New York state took place Dec. 3 in upstate New York. In Albany, a coalition of groups opposed to the natural gas drilling tech- nique known as high-volume hydraulic fractur- ing (fracking) launched the Not One Well campaign. On the same day, opponents of the use of abandoned salt caverns near Watkins Glen, N.Y., for storage of the natural gas gener- ated by fracking held a rally and then attended the court hearing of 20 people arrested for blocking the entrance to the salt caverns. The Finger Lakes wine region is located on the northern side of the Marcellus Shale for- mation, a geologic feature known for its un- tapped natural gas reserves, which extends from West Virginia through Pennsylvania and into southern New York. Many winery owners and grapegrowers in the Finger Lakes region have expressed concern about potential con- tamination of groundwater by the fracking process—as well as increased traffic and the threat to local drinking water posed by storage of natural gas in the salt caverns two miles north of Watkins Glen. Houston, Texas-based Crestwood Mid- stream Partners acquired US Salt LLC in order to utilize their abandoned salt caverns to store natural gas and liquid petroleum gas (LPG). Concerned about the possibility of gas explo- sions by both methane and LPG—and of leaks into Seneca Lake from the salt caverns—op- ponents of the gas storage project started an activist group called "We Are Seneca Lake." The group is specifically protesting to stop the methane gas storage project, which is sepa- rate from the proposed LPG storage project. Protestors including members of We Are Seneca Lake started to block the gates to the Crestwood gas storage facility Oct. 23 and held a rally attended by more than 200 people the following day. In the following six weeks, more than 80 people were arrested including two winery owners—Will Ouweleen, owner of Eagle Crest and Onehda Vineyards in Conesus, N.Y., and Phil Davis, co-owner of Damiani Wine Cellars in Hector, N.Y.—as well as several other winery employees. On Dec. 3, more than 100 people took part in a rally outside the courthouse in the town of Reading, N.Y., that preceded the court hear- ing for 20 people. Of that group, 19 were ar- raigned, one was released and six were jailed. The following day another nine people were arrested. At a press conference in the Legislative Of- fice Building in Albany, N.Y., a coalition of groups came together to launch a campaign called "Not One Well" to oppose the natural gas drilling technique of fracking. The "Not One Well" campaign has called on Cuomo to declare a three- to five-year mora- torium on fracking to allow additional time to investigate its health and environmental im- pacts from a scientific standpoint. —Linda Jones McKee Drilling Concerns Heat Up in New York Protestors hold a banner reading "This Is Wine Country Not Gas Country" outside the Crestwood gas storage facility in December. Growth D O E S N ' T H A P P E N B Y A C C I D E N T . Visit www.PlanWithWaterloo.com today to fnd out how we can take the guesswork out of your packaging projections and help you achieve your goals in 2015. Suppliers of Wine Bottles, Corks, Caps and Closures 888-539-3922 • www.PlanWithWaterloo.com