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37 1 The Co-optation of Establishment Environmentalism and the Emergence of Scenic Hudson Consolidated Edison did not simply march into the Hudson River valley and expect to build a large pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant. The company was careful to cultivate the support of local political leaders, as well as the region’s leading environmentalists. Con Ed was successful in gaining the support of the valley’s most powerful and established environmental groups because these environmentalists lacked any framework or understanding of ecology; instead, they were motivated largely by aesthetics. Yet, aesthetics can be subjective.1 Con Ed successfully exploited this weakness by dividing and coopting the established environmental organizations in Hudson River valley. This strategy led to the creation of a new organization—Scenic Hudson—comprising a diverse cross-section of the region’s environmental community and devoting itself exclusively to stopping Con Ed from building a power plant at Storm King Mountain. CORNWALL Con Ed was able to co-opt the established environmental groups in part because the plant quickly enjoyed widespread favor within Cornwall. The Village of Cornwall lies about forty miles north of Manhattan on the west bank of the Hudson River. The village itself lies almost wholly within the town of Cornwall, 38 ■ THE CO-OPTATION OF ESTABLISHMENT ENVIRONMENTALISM AND THE EMERGENCE OF SCENIC HUDSON which surrounds it on all sides save the east, where the town limit is the river. 2 The riverfront was a busy place in the nineteenth century as Cornwall became a resort town for New Yorkers escaping epidemics of cholera, yellow fever, and malaria that repeatedly ravaged the city. Medical theory held that these diseases were caused by miasma—gas produced by organic matter decomposing under humid conditions.3 The prescription was to relocate to an elevated environment of fresh, pine-scented air, which, it was believed, would expedite the healing process . The line that separated the fresh mountain air from the stagnant coastal air was called the “death-line,” and it was believed to lie somewhere just south of the Highlands. Cornwall was situated just to the north of this “death-line,” making it one of the closest destinations where the afflicted could hope to recover. By the 1960s, the riverfront was largely abandoned and Cornwall, with almost no industry, was attempting to confront a range of problems, one of which was a drought that had persisted over much of the state since about 1960. Considering the difficulties many of Cornwall’s neighbors had in securing water, this problem was foremost in Mayor Michael Donahue’s mind when he stared at the model of a giant power plant that promised to forever change his village. Con Ed presented Donahue with its plans for the plant on Wednesday, September 26, one day before the New York Times announced them in a front-page story. After overcoming his initial shock, Donahue quickly figured that the plant would benefit his village. With a declining economy, the village was considering a tax increase to meet its responsibilities. The proposed plant would provide construction jobs and would require personnel to run it. Con Ed was a private utility, so this non-fossil-fuel, nonpolluting plant at the town’s edge would mean millions in tax revenue that could go to much-needed improvements. The economic boost from the plant might even lead to a lowering of the tax burden on the village’s residents. The plant could attract other light industrial concerns into the area, creating even more jobs and generally raising property values in the village. And finally, though the company would take possession of the village reservoir to store water pumped from the river below, Con Ed promised, before the plant was ever constructed, to provide an adequate water supply for the village by improving its smaller supplemental reservoirs and by tapping into the New York City aqueduct, which conveniently ran under the village. One village trustee told a local newspaper that he endorsed the project as “one of the most fortunate” things to happen to the village and that he believed, after talking to the mayor, that Cornwall would most likely come out with a better water supply. Another local official agreed, adding that “on its first appearance without town or village engineer advice, it looks like a very lucky break for Cornwall.” This view was common among the town’s leadership.4 A local newspaper reported that the mayor had been warned that some people objected to the “alleged...

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