One year later, former Governor Andrew Cuomo rejected Crestwood’s pitch to store liquefied petroleum (LPG) in the caverns and effectively ended the company’s gas storage prospects in New York State (Murray, 2017). In 2017, Crestwood abandoned the project. Though they voiced concerns including climate change and recreational use, activists emphasized the fact that the Seneca Lake region supports thriving local businesses including wineries, breweries, agriculture, distilleries, and bakeries, all of which attract tourists and ultimately contribute 4.8 billion dollars to New York’s economy each year. Economic appeals were central to WASL’s rhetoric. The “ We Are Seneca Lake ” (WASL) group formed in 2014 with the goal of putting a stop to Crestwood Equity Partners’ plans to turn salt caverns beneath Seneca Lake into storage containers for gases to be used for hydraulic fracturing. What might such advocacy look like? An anti-fracking campaign in Upstate New York offers clues. Environmental advocates can communicate protection of public lands as crucial for the formation and/or maintenance of a truly healthy economy without depicting economic benefit as the only grounds for valuing the natural world. Yet a long-term sustainable economy that benefits local communities cannot exist without a healthy environment. After all, economic constructions of nature can feel eerily similar to industry rhetorics of extraction, and arguments for environmental protection based in claims to economic benefit cannot serve environmental welfare in a more holistic sense (Brulle, 2000). A Surprising and Important Reason to Protect Public Lands: The (Sustainable) Economic BenefitsĮnvironmental advocates are often leery of constructions of nature as an economic resource for human use.
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