Actor and activist Cromwell
[EVENT]
WHAT: Protest and Press Conference outside Con Ed annual shareholder meeting
WHEN: Monday, May 16 — 9:30 AM – protest begins 11 AM – press conference
WHO: James Cromwell, Actor, climate activist; Jan Quarles, We Are Seneca Lake; Will Ouweleen, Secretary of Finger Lakes Wine Business Coalition and WInemaker at O-Neh-Da Vineyard; Clare Donohue, Sane Energy Project; Irene Weiser, Town of Caroline Councilmember, Fossil Free Tompkins; JK Canepa, New York Climate Action Group; Others TBA
WHERE: Outside Con Edison Headquarters, 4 Irving Place, New York, NY.
WHY: On April 21, 2016 Con Ed announced it was entering into a joint venture with Crestwood Equity Partners to jointly own and develop Crestwood’s underground fracked gas storage facilities and pipelines in the northeast, including the controversial gas storage facility in unstable salt caverns under the shores of Seneca Lake, in the heart of Finger Lakes wine country.
The catastrophic failure of a similar underground gas storage facility in Porter Ranch, CA last year forced the evacuation of 5,000 people from their homes. People plan to protest this investment outside Con Ed’s annual shareholder meeting on May 16, 2016.
At the same time upstate communities are fighting to protect themselves from an onslaught of fracked natural gas pipelines, storage, and power plants, New York City residents are facing a future of sea level rise from climate change, disproportionately affecting people of color and low income residents.
Methane, or natural gas, is 86 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide CO2. The entire gas storage and transmission system leaks; recent scientific reports show that the United States’ methane emissions have significantly increased in the last decade, concurrent with the expansion of fracking and gas infrastructure, and are a major driver of climate change.
