ALBANY – Assemblywoman Didi Barrett (D, Hudson) asked a state Public Service Commission judge to turn the lights off on the Energy Highway AC transmission upgrade proceeding.
Barrett has been pushing for termination of the project because it would “negatively impact our beautiful Hudson Valley communities, our economy, our natural, cultural and historic treasurers.” Her latest request came in the form of a letter to PSC Judge David Prestemon.
“The damage that has been done to our community already, projects that have been put on hold resulting in jobs that aren’t filled, homes where the value is going down and people and people are ready to sell, has really been tremendous and we don’t have a clear sense that there is a need at all,” she said. “I think that we have an opportunity to lead for the future here.”
Barrett said that despite “professional analysis on environmental and visual impacts, the trial staff eliminated a proposal that would have the least harmful effect on communities and key resources in my Assembly district.” She said the remaining projects that the trial staff claim to be “well-balanced,” do, in fact, place at risk “Dutchess County’s blossoming $475 million tourism industry, and the 8,400 jobs it supports.”
She said the proposed towers “would destroy bucolic view sheds that inspired the Hudson River School painters just as they thrill today, and would cut deeply into Columbia County’s growing farming, craft beverage and agritourism industries, which generate $115 million and approximately 1,400 jobs.”
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