Gas Free Seneca is an environmentalist group based in New York. It was founded as a coalition of businesses and residents in opposition to a proposed construction project that would have created liquid petroleum and gas storage infrastructure in New York’s Seneca Lake. It worked with environmental law firm Earthjustice to prevent the project. ^{1 2}

Gas Free Seneca has opposed the use of zero carbon nuclear energy. ³

History

Gas Free Seneca, a coalition of businesses and residents, was founded in 2010 to oppose a proposal from Crestwood Midstream, a Texas energy company, to store liquid propane and butane in abandoned salt caverns on Seneca Lake in Reading, New York. Together with Earthjustice and general public pressure, the proposal was struck down when Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) state Commissioner Basil Seggos refused to grant Crestwood a permit. ⁴

After the victory, Gas Free Seneca agreed to become an affiliate of Seneca Lake Guardian, itself an affiliate of the Waterkeeper Alliance, which had approached Gas Free Seneca with the offer. “It’s a natural evolution from a single issue as Gas Free Seneca to other threats to Seneca Lake and the Finger Lakes as a whole,” wrote president Joseph Campbell at the time. Gas Free Seneca said it would set its sights on opposing a proposed incinerator in Romulus, New York and on protecting Cayuga Lake as well, utilizing Seneca Lake Guardian’s litigation abilities and working with Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association. ⁵

As of October 2022, Gas Free Seneca’s website was a blank page with a note that reads: “GasFreeSeneca,org will be back, we’re just doing a little work on some things.” ⁵ At that time, it had an active Twitter page. ⁶

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

In May of 2021, Gas Free Seneca was one of 715 groups and businesses listed as a co-signer on a letter to the leadership of the U.S. House and Senate that referred to nuclear energy as a “dirty” form of energy production and a “significant” source of pollution. The letter asked federal lawmakers to reduce carbon emissions by creating a “renewable electricity standard” that promoted production of weather dependent power sources such as wind turbines and solar panels, but did not promote low carbon natural gas and zero carbon nuclear energy. ³

Nuclear power plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions, and as of 2021 accounted for 19 percent of American electricity production—the largest source of zero carbon electricity in the United States. ⁷ An October 2018 proposal from The Nature Conservancy noted that zero-carbon nuclear plants produced 7.8 percent of total world energy output and recommended reducing carbon emissions by increasing nuclear capacity to 33 percent of total world energy output. ⁸

Gas Free Seneca was one of more than 600 co-signing organizations on a January 2019 open letter to Congress titled “Legislation to Address the Urgent Threat of Climate Change.” The signatories declared their support for new laws to bring about “100 percent decarbonization” of the transportation sector but denounced nuclear power as an example of “dirty energy” that should not be included in any legislation promoting the use of so-called “renewable energy.” ⁹

Leadership

As of 2018, the president of Gas Free Seneca was Joseph Campbell, a resident of Hector, New York. Yvonne Taylor, also from Hector, was the vice president, and Mary Anne Kowalski from Romulus, New York was the treasurer and research director. ⁴

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1. “Protecting Seneca Lake From the Gas Industry.” Earthjustice.org. Accessed October 7, 2022.
2. Shaw, David L. FLTimes, May 24, 2017. Accessed October 7, 2022. https://www.fltimes.com/news/back-at-it-gas-free-seneca-continues-efforts-to-stop-crestwood-s-lpg-plan/article_a55a15f8-4087-11e7-a8fc-17764ac90e3d.html.
3. Letter from Center for Biological Diversity et. al. to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Joe Manchin, and Rep. Frank Pallone. “RE: CONGRESS SHOULD ENACT A FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STANDARD AND REJECT GAS AND FALSE SOLUTIONS.” May 12, 2021. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/energy-justice/pdfs/2021-5-12_600-Group-Letter-for-RES.pdf?_gl=1*1c9h3t8*_gcl_au*MTc3NjM3MTM1Mi4xNjg5OTU1MzAz
4. Shaw, David L. “Gas Free Seneca joins Seneca Lake Guardian, focuses on incinerator.” FLTimes, July 20, 2018. Accessed October 7, 2022. https://www.fltimes.com/news/gas-free-seneca-joins-seneca-lake-guardian-focuses-on-incinerator/article_3caa229e-5a1a-575f-a86d-b6a4a8f85be2.html.
5. Gas Free Seneca. Accessed October 7, 2022. https://gasfreeseneca.com/.
6. “Gas Free Seneca.” Twitter. Accessed October 7, 2022. https://mobile.twitter.com/freeseneca.
7. “Nuclear explained.” U.S. Energy Information Administration. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/us-nuclear-industry.php
8. “The Science of Sustainability.” The Nature Conservancy. October 13, 2018. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/the-science-of-sustainability/
9. “Group letter to Congress urging Green New Deal passage.” Earthworks. January 10, 2019. Accessed July 27, 2023. https://www.earthworks.org/publications/group-letter-to-congress-urging-green-new-deal-passage/