Word: stormfully
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Neither of these, however, can match Con Ed's record ten years of denials that its proposed Storm King power plant will, if completed, be one of the biggest white elephants ever to trample the power industry, the environment and the consumer...
...Storm King facility would be a pumped storage plant, functioning as a giant storage battery sitting above the Hudson River. Water from the river, pumped up the mountain, would be stored in a reservoir, then released through generators when electricity is in demand. Of course, it takes a considerable amount of energy to push water uphill--more than can be generated by its flowing back down. So the Storm King plant will use three kilowatts of energy for every two it later produces...
...spokesman explained patiently that Con Ed will get the power for Storm King from "cleaner" (thermal and radiation pollution aside) nuclear generating plants. But most of Con Ed's nuclear plants have not been allowed to operate at full capacity-in fact, some have not been allowed to operate at all. If this situation continues, the spokesman assured, the power would be purchased from other members of the Northeast Power Grid. If fuel oil is to be wasted, the reasoning apparently runs, it won't be ours; if the air is to be polluted, atleast...
ASSUMING ONE CAN accept Con Ed's denials that the Storm King plant is conceived entirely on a theory of waste--and that's not easy to do--one can push on to a long series of other disturbing questions. The utility will be more than happy to deny that any of these exist...
When Con Ed originally announced its proposal for the Storm King plant, the cost estimates ranged around $234 million. Now, ten years later, that estimate has risen to $457 million--almost twice the price. Con Ed has denied repeatedly that the facility is any less economical today than it was ten years ago, despite statements from economists and the New York City Environmental Protection Administration to the contrary...