STONY POINT – A proposed high-voltage power line that would extend from Canada to New York City, and pass through the Hudson Valley, would run right by the Historic Waldron Cemetery in Stony Point, the final resting place for Revolutionary War colonists.
A group of business, labor and community leaders gathered in Stony Point Monday to declare independence from foreign power on July 1, Canada Day as the Champlain Hudson Power Express Line is being proposed.
Among those who spoke out against the line was Patrick Guidice, president of the Utility Labor Council of New York State. He said a power line coming from Canada would have the effect of closing down electric generating facilities in New York.
“Our plants provide much needed jobs to New Yorkers, particularly at economically stressed regions of upstate,” Guidice said. “It will, when we close power plants, we are going to see tax in these economically depraved regions begin to rise because they are not going to have the taxes paid by a couple of power facilities.”
Opponents of the line called on Congress and the Army Corps of Engineers to take action to prevent such power lines from being built.
Members of environmental groups, the Daughters of the American Revolution, union labor and state and local public officials all rallied in opposition to the electric line.