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Writer's pictureE. Baker
Sep 237 min read

Seneca Lake's Battle Against Pollution


A Picture Perfect Community at Risk


Watkins Glen, NY- Seneca Lake, the deepest of the Finger Lakes, is located at the North end of the small town of Watkins Glen. Known as the home of the nation's first car race after WWII, Watkins Glen continues to uphold its American racing traditions. The crosswalks are painted as checkered flags, and even the street signs resemble racecars marking the numbered streets in the heart of town. This is just one of many small and nostalgic communities that border the majestic lake.


Watkins Glen is home to Watkins Glen State Park, featuring 19 waterfalls and a breathtaking trail through a rocky gorge about a mile and a half long. The park offers countless photo opportunities and incredible aesthetic memories. The small town is bustling with activity during the summer, and the surrounding farmlands and rural lifestyle evoke nostalgic feelings akin to the TV town of Mayberry. Old buildings, victorian homes with sprawling porches and flower boxes, and creameries contribute to its wholesome and safe atmosphere. 


One local lake-side park boasts two swimming areas, a snack stand, and a splash pad for families to enjoy. Another park on the town square hosts summer concerts in the park with local musicians. There are "little free libraries" and signs of family-friendly activities everywhere. The local marina is home to a touring sailboat named "True Love," once featured in a vintage Bing Crosby movie. The charm of this village is intoxicating even without the surrounding wineries, and there are dozens of those in the area. 


Yvonne Taylor fell in love with "The Glen" visiting her family's generational home each summer. Her childhood memories are filled with picking berries, swimming in the cold waters of Seneca Lake, and enjoying local treats like jellies and ice cream from nearby farms and vineyards. After her mother's passing, Ms. Taylor inherited a small plot of land on Seneca Lake, which she planned to make her forever home. However, these plans were threatened by a looming prospect.


A giant oil and gas company proposed a massive storage and transport project in the caverns of an old salt facility near her home. This project threatened the way of life and natural serenity of the entire Finger Lakes region in the Northeast, along with the drinking water supply for over a hundred thousand residents.


The Fight Against Industrial Intrusion Begins


In 2010, a large oil company planned to move into the Seneca Lake area. They intended to purchase an old salt refinery and storage facility to use as a storage and transport hub for natural gas and liquid petroleum gas,  transforming the Seneca Lake area into the largest gas storage and transport hub in the United States. The gases were to be stored in large unlined caverns created from years of solution salt mining that extend under the freshwater lake. When Yvonne heard about these plans, she felt an immediate call to action. She joined forces with Dr. Joseph Campbell and Jeff Dembowsky and later joined by Mary Anne Kowalski, all active community members equally concerned with the residents' and wildlife's health and safety. 


"What started out as three people sitting around a kitchen table saying 'someone has to do something' turned into 1.2 million New Yorkers rising up," Taylor recalls. The environmental justice law firm Earthjustice took on the case, and after eight years of battling, they successfully halted the petrochemical threat to the lakeside communities. 


Uphill Battles


Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of Yvonne's lengthy journey into advocacy. Fast forward to 2024. Seneca Lake and all of the Finger Lakes face constant threats. Industry, development, and even tourism activities continually loom over the lakes' health. The non-profit organization Seneca Lake Guardian, a Waterkeeper Alliance affiliate established in 2017 by Yvonne and Dr. Campbell, tirelessly fights for a safe and clean environment. They have been referred to as rabble-rousers and troublemakers for calling out local leaders and refusing to take donations from or "play nice" with polluters. Seneca Lake Guardian has proven to be a true grassroots organization. The hard-working members of the community who are environmentally involved are constantly working to protect the community, "not profit from it," Ms. Taylor emphasizes. "You can't take money from them (polluters) and then pretend you're against them."


The Impact of Human "Progress"


In recent years, Seneca Lake has suffered from harmful algae blooms (HABs). Multiple sources of pollution can contribute to these types of blooms. According to the Centers for Disease Control, HABs are "the rapid growth of algae or cyanobacteria in water That can harm people, animals, or the environment." The EPA warns that "HABs can produce toxins that present a risk to people, animals, aquatic ecosystems, the economy, drinking water supplies, property values, commercial and industrial fishing, and recreational activities like swimming."

In addition to HABs, PFAS a set of about 12,000 different chemical substances known as "forever chemicals" due to their indestructibility, have become a major concern on the glacial lake. Among the potential sources of the chemical pollution are an old Army depot and the state's largest landfill. 


The Seneca Army Depot activity site stored and disposed of military explosives from 1941 to 2000. The site was the primary munitions supply base for the northeast United States for over 5o years. In addition to munitions, the Army used and stored the PFAS-laden AFFF ( Aqueous Film Forming Foam) firefighting foam at the site for training and firefighting. Though there is an active investigation and a Proposed Remedial Action Plan in place due to the Open Detionation Grounds used when the site was active, the Department of Defense denies any PFAS leakage from their former munitions depot. Some advocates argue that pollution does not honor fences or property lines. 


The landfill is located at Seneca Falls, the birthplace of Women's Rights, and is now an impoverished community that has experienced above-average numbers of residents diagnosed with lung cancer. The immense Seneca Meadows landfill is proposed to expand in height by about 70 feet across 50 acres. About 95% of the leachate from the landfill will be shipped to wastewater treatment plants across the state and then discharged into waterways that are drinking water sources after chemical treatment. One concern is that most wastewater treatment facilities lack the filtration needed to remove PFAS. Another aspect of pollution from the landfill is the added emissions of 16.94 Billion cubic feet of methane that will be released into the atmosphere. This landfill will harm all of New York, not just Seneca Lake. Ms. Taylor explains that expanding the landfill and adding hundreds of thousands of tons of garbage on top will essentially "squeeze" the pollution into surrounding soil and water "like toothpaste from a tube". The added emissions will undermine the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act (CLCPA) that became New York State law in July 2019. 


Seneca Lake is known as the freshwater trout capital of the world. Alarmingly, the trout have tested for PFAS at levels of up to 44,000 ppt. The current drinking water guideline, lowered by the EPA last year, is 4 ppt. The NY State Department of Health advises not to eat fish that are over 200,000 ppt and not to eat fish more than 4 times a month, but advocates say they would never consume the fish out of the lake, knowing the levels were even that high. The average person does not have a way to test for chemicals in fish, so how would they know what that level is in a fresh catch? State University of New York College of Environmental Science of Foresty tests confirmed that the average trout in Seneca Lake tested at 11,800 ppt. PFAS are commonly referred to as "forever chemicals." They do not break down or metabolize in the human body. In fact, they bioaccumulate, meaning they build up in a person's body over time. Many health issues are now being linked to PFAS, such as heart disease, cancer, and autoimmune disorders like Parkinson's. 


The Greenidge Bitcoin mining facility is a more recent threat to the shining Seneca Lake. In 2014, Atlas Holdings, a private equity firm, purchased a retired and dilapidated power plant directly on the lake to power the supercomputers that will "mine" cyber wealth for the firm. The plant, which was a coal-burning plant, transitioned and began using electricity again in March of 2017. Through some legal battles, the Department of Environmental Conservation denied Atlas Holding's Title V permit for violating the CLCPA, but allowed them to continue operations while a legal appeal took place. The legal decision was upheld in court this year, yet the facility continues to operate using fracked natural gas. This produces greenhouse gasses and contributes to increases in carbon emissions which is the opposite of the goals laid out in the CLCPA. In addition, the plant is permitted to withdraw 139,000,000 gallons of water a day to generate steam for its engines, which is then discharged back into Seneca Lake at roughly 108° F. Trout stress at 70° F and HAB's are directly linked to warmer waters. 


Ms. Taylor explains "Seneca Lake Guardian has helped statewide organizations and elected officials throughout New York understand that the Greenidge facility served as the test case for how other underutilized or decommissioned power plants could come back online for this energy-intensive industry throughout our state, which led to NY's adoption of a moratorium on the use of fossil fuel burning power plants for crypto mining, while an environmental study is completed." 


The Power of the Advocates' Voices


Yvonne Taylor and Joseph Campbell's fight for Seneca Lake exemplifies the power of community advocacy and the ongoing struggle to protect our natural resources. As they continue their work, they remain vigilant. That is a testimony to the resilience and determination of communities united in the face of environmental threats. Through the efforts of organizations like Seneca Lake Guardian and the unwavering commitment to protecting environmental health the preservation of exquisite natural resources will remain a priority for communities like Watkins Glen. Ensuring that future generations enjoy healthy environments and drinkable, swimmable, fishable water is no small task. Industry and development are a persistent threat to the peaceful and healthy way of life places like the small towns around Seneca Lake provide. Advocates across our country must work together, share information, and join forces to keep pressure on governmental bodies that make the laws and enforce the regulations that are supposed to protect communities. 


If you would like to help in the efforts to protect Lake Seneca, consider a donation to The Seneca Lake Guardian here or sign up for email updates so that you can make your voice heard when the Public Comment period of the landfill's expansion is announced. Seneca Lake Guardian will send you a QR code containing a sample comment for your submission. 


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