(Wines&Vines) - Winemakers and business owners from the Finger Lakes region have requested that Gov. Andrew Cuomo block the permits for proposed natural gas and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) storage facilities near Lake Seneca. The Houston, Texas-based energy company, Crestwood Midstream Partners, which acquired US Salt LLC in Reading, N.Y., two miles north of Watkins Glen in 2012, wants to utilize abandoned salt caverns to store the gas. The company has submitted permit applications with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and that department is completing an environmental review of the project.

The winery owners are concerned that the proposed storage facility would bring heavy industry and increased truck traffic and pollution to the area, create threats to local drinking water and, most of all, to local jobs and businesses that depend on tourism generated by the region’s thriving wine industry. Currently there are 86 wineries located in the four counties bordering Seneca Lake. The wine and grape industry in New York has an economic impact on the state’s economy that totals $4.8 billion.

Lou Damiani, owner of Damiani Wine Cellars in Burdett, N.Y., on the east side of Lake Seneca, commented that there is no justification for jeopardizing the Finger Lakes’ place as an international destination for agri-tourism. He believes there is no propane shortage, and so there is no need for the proposed gas-storage facilities.