OLIVEBRIDGE – A proposal by California-based Premium Energy Holdings to construct a pumped storage project to generate hydroelectric power from the Ashokan Reservoir has received widespread local opposition from area environmental groups and State Senator Michelle Hinchey (D, Saugerties).
The company has submitted a preliminary permit application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to study the feasibility of developing the project that would include construction of a new dam and reservoir at one of three alternative sites near the Ashokan – the Stony Clove in Lanesville, Wittenberg Road in Olive, or Woodland Valley in Phoenicia.
Hinchey said the project “is a dangerous, half-baked proposal that will cause irreparable damage to our region and cannot be allowed to move forward.” She said while New York is moving toward 100 percent renewable energy sources, “we cannot do so at the detriment of our precious natural resources or at the expense of our drinking water and watershed communities.”
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