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<br /> Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, and Edgar Allan Poe . Artist i their proposals are sited near historic areas . They ' re essentially
<br /> colonies sprang up around the small river towns like cattails . allowed to build wherever they choose ." And most po\ver corn -
<br /> Zoda • another movement is sweeping across the Hudson ' panics choose to site their coal - and as - fired plants along
<br /> } P g � P g' P b the .-
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<br /> River Valley-- ione of de \lelopment and industry: A newspaper Hudson , attracted to the valley 's proximity to New York City '
<br /> recrclin ; facilic} , a cement plant, and eight power plants seek to power grid and to railroads , underground gas pipelines , and rive
<br /> ' build on the landscapes made famous by the Hudson River water for industrial coolincir systems _ is
<br /> School . Though the Hudson has a long tradition of industry, ; Only one of the eight power- plant projects vying to build
<br /> some argue that this new wave of development will destroy the the Hudson Valley has been formally accepted . The U. S . Army_ Ali
<br /> ' natural scenery and end a nest•, and groNving, source of income-- Corps of Engineers , the administrative body responsible fo lit
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<br /> tOUTIS111W The 125 - mile stretch of river between New York and assessing project's impact on historic and natural resources , gave
<br /> Albany shelters 46 National Historic Landmarks, making the final approval in May for the first plant since deregulation . PcaEv -
<br /> region the largest National Historic Landmark District in the National Energy Group, based in Bethesda , 1\ Id . , will construct
<br /> t ; countr }r isitors to these sites—marl \r of them the studios and a 1 , 080- megawatt natural -gas-tired plant in the town of Athens ,
<br /> homes of the Hudson River School painters—infuse more thaci a few miles east of Pine Orchard , the mountain ledge that r
<br /> - ` 5100 million annually into upstate New York 's weak economy. launched the Hudson River School . PG & E has already cleared
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<br /> The push to build power plants emerged after New York State trees and created access reads for the plant, which will occup}r 20
<br /> deregulated its electricity market in 1996 . Like California , Ne \v i acres t\vo Holes \ crest of the river, and \will erect three 1S0 fact - :' -=y
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<br /> lurk hoped to lower prices for consumers . The logic was simple : = smokestacks , a 90 -foot-high housing complex with cooling taw
<br /> Break up old utility monopolies and a tree market will compete I ers , a four- million - gallon back - up oil storage tank, and a pump
<br /> to build new- plants , givingcorlsumers the opportunity to shop for t house . risible fi om nines aw,r\; it will bc'. .one of the largest gas :. 'f
<br /> the lowest electricity rates . But demand for power rose faster than fired power plants in the United States. _Y
<br /> the state could develop new supplies . " No one c .\p- ected the
<br /> 'demand to rise in the 90s as quickly as it did , ' says (ten Klapp of { { t
<br /> tie\v York's Independent S } stem Operator, the agency that man- TH EN� s WAS Fov ;� tr t: rn in the 17 th century as a
<br /> i ages the state 's power supph: " We 've already eaten through Dutch market town c� n the west bank of the river. =.1.
<br /> most of our power reserves , and we ' re strongly urging the con - after the Erie Canal opened in 1825 , extending the _ `
<br /> struction of more power facilities to avoid a crisis. " This June , Hudson through the Appalachian Mountains to the expanding
<br /> spooked by California 's power problems and fearing blackouts , + western territories , Athens prospered as a trading port . X/Toney -
<br /> i = the New York Power Authority rushed to install I I temporary � to build its sturdv brick Federal - style houses came from the
<br /> diesel - turbine generators around New York City to keep the j to\vn 's three shipyards , nine icehouses , brick and potter \ _
<br /> lights burning bright through the summer. foundries , mills , and tool factories . -
<br /> l T6 encourage private companies to build power plants , the Today Athens in quiet and feat} —anvtllittgbut a commercial
<br /> state has simplified its siting la\\ Article 10 . Under the revised pub- powerhouse . Most of the Federal facades on Athens ' main com
<br /> lie service law, power plant projects larger than 80 megawatts are mercial street , Route 385 , stand empty; the it "Indows frosted \\ ith
<br /> i exempt from the State Environmental Quality' Review Act, dust. Like many Hudson River Valley towns , Athens sta *rnated in �
<br /> i Which requires developers to consider several sites for a project , i the ?0th century: Economic depression froze it in time, no one had
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<br /> \vei htng the potential impact of each on the environrnent and i enough money to alter structures or even tear them down . Now a
<br /> historic sites . i z
<br /> after years of decay: tnoner
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<br /> l Builders of 1 .ur �Te power
<br /> fr slo\\ ly trickles back as Man -
<br /> - F - j ✓ t gh � .
<br /> plants must still perti� rm - _ _ 5 hattan couples hunt for sec -
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<br /> impact studies , but many � t � _ �, and homes or hope to set up
<br /> Ne\\rlurkers belie ve the taw -_ _ _ -_ . _ _ _ = - _ - - b s ' ` , � t
<br /> u . ine. ses in _ ) 0 - year- old
<br /> t
<br /> t unfairly favors the interests t ._ houses that sell for five fir;-
<br /> of developers o\ c� r presrr - ores . a
<br /> 1 v:itionists . ' Article 1t► ; rants Carrie Feder and Randall
<br /> industry an advantage at Evatls moved fiorn Brooklyn
<br /> every step of the siting to Athens 13 Fears agn , found
<br /> ;n
<br /> pt' c, cess , " says Pvter lung i ing a historic - restoration busi -
<br /> of Friends of Hudson , an cr � ?
<br /> Hess and reruavatin an Ism
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<br /> In* lot
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<br /> environmental 1lonprofit , sal tboxfor the nlselvest " ��'`hen
<br /> " P ( mllc- r companies are nut we visited Athens . " Feder tells
<br /> forced to seriously consider mc , " 1 said to my husband , ; v_
<br /> �y -
<br /> . thernate locations when "Phis is the place . ' 1 couldn ' t is
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