Power on the Hudson: Storm King Mountain and the Emergence of Modern American Environmentalism by Robert D. Lifset (review)

Appropriately and wittily titled, Lifset’s book presents a well-researched and lively account of the political and environmental power struggles surrounding Consolidated Edison’s plan to construct a pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant at Storm King Mountain located in the Hudson River Highlands, fifty miles north of New York City. The debate over the potential consequences of the proposed plant did much to shape the early history of the broader, modern environmental movement in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. During the course of nearly two decades, the struggle over electric power generation at Storm King led to “a new balance” of power regarding “the relationship between the need for energy production and the desire for environmental quality” (xiii).

In late 1962 Con Ed, then the nation’s largest utility, faced exponentially increasing electricity demand while simultaneously having to deal with conventional power plant siting issues and calls for cleaner air in New York City. Here E. B. White is appropriately quoted as having quipped in 1954 that “soot is the topsoil of New York” (13). Thus, it is no surprise that the utility should reveal plans for a pumped-storage facility slated for a site near Cornwall, New York, on the west bank of the Hudson. The rationale for a pumped-storage plant, despite inherent inefficiencies, is that it utilizes steam-powered generation, which is neither technically easy nor economically efficient to shut down during underutilized (e.g., early morning) hours, to pump water uphill to a storage reservoir, from which it can then be drawn off to meet “peak” (read: more expensive) electricity demand during the late afternoon/early evening hours.

Con Ed readily convinced local, state, and federal, most notably the Federal Power Commission (FPC), political officials of the project’s energy and economic values, while downplaying aesthetic issues. Indeed, they agreed to place the necessary high-tension power lines under the Hudson, and then underground them, at least in places, as they worked their way down the east side of the river to the city where most of the power would be consumed. Con Ed also agreed to design the plant itself to minimize aesthetic visual impacts, in effect promising a park-like setting along the river side. These concessions mollified most traditional aesthetic preservationists. A handful of environmental activists not so convinced created a new, cross-sectional environmental group, the Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference, which would ultimately take a lead role among many other anti–pumped storage organizations.

The town of Cornwall largely bought into the project for economic reasons—increased employment opportunities and enhanced tax revenues—combined with a promise of an adequate water supply. The FPC, although the product of Progressive era conservation legislation (the Federal Power Act of 1920) designed to better manage the nation’s water-power resources, generally viewed itself in the role of energy development promoter. Con Ed would seemingly have its way when in March 1965 the FPC, following hearings held the previous year, granted the utility its requested plant license. Yet, two things happened during the hearings that would prove crucial in the long run, contributing to significant delays and ultimately failure of plant construction.

At this time, citizen groups, unless they could prove direct economic impact, seldom received legal standing to intervene in federal hearings; however, given increasing New York Times publicity, the FPC granted Scenic Hudson intervener status, which proved crucial for this case, but also set a broader national precedent. Although the FPC in granting Con Ed its license dismissed Scenic Hudson’s aesthetic arguments as largely immaterial, they turned back the question of transmission-line siting to the company and for further hearings. They also left open for further research and discussion what would prove to be a controversial environmental issue, the health of the Hudson River fishery, especially that of...