supervisor, Halfmoon
HALFMOON - On the bank of the Hudson River, just south of Mechanicville, sits a hulking building filled with old machinery -- and a piece of history.
The Mechanicville Hydroelectric Station is marked by the National Historical Register as the only remaining 19th-century facility of its kind.
For 100 years, the station provided the area with power generated by the Hudson.
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A NiMo spokesman said the company is in search of a willing buyer for the plant.
James Besha says he is a willing buyer, but NiMo won't sell to him.
Besha, president of Albany Engineering, contracted in 1985 with NiMo to plan the plant's future.
In 1993, the two companies applied jointly for permission from the federal government to operate the facility as a hydroelectric plant for the next 50 years.
The plan was for Albany Engineering to take over ownership of the plant, Besha said. NiMo would then promise to buy the power produced there.
Besha said Albany Engineering spent $3 million to begin renovations on the plant.
''Up to that we were on the same wavelength,'' Besha said.
According to Besha, things changed only a week after their 50-year plan was approved.
''They wanted to stop the whole thing,'' he said.
A letter from a NiMo attorney to the Northeast office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation states that the company ''has sought to be a responsible steward'' for the plant. Michael Murphy writes that the company is concerned about the plant's safety and that plans to revive it may not be economically viable.
NiMo spokesman Alberto Biancetti said the company plans to fill the lower half of the current powerhouse with ''fill'' to stabilize it.
''It's too early to say what the fill will be,'' he said.
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which is monitoring the situation at the hydro plant, lists this substance as concrete.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is also watching what is happening in Mechanicville.
Attorney Marilyn M. Fenollosa said she wrote a letter to NiMo asking them to open up a line of communication with Besha. Fenollosa said the National Trust is also keeping an eye on a decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to allow NiMo to surrender its license to the property.
She said this action may have violated the Historic Preservation Act.
Besha said his company is committed to keeping the plant running. It filed suit against NiMo and has been in court for nearly 10 years debating the plant's future. The case is set to go to trial in May.
While the companies argued, the Mechanicville Hydroelectric Station ceased operation in 1997.
Albany Engineering's interest in the plant isn't just about history.
Renovating old plants and building new ones is how the company makes money, Besha said.
That the plant in Halfmoon is one of the most famous hydroelectric plants in the world is also a motivating factor, Besha said.
''We shouldn't forget that a lot of the industry started here in the low-tech days,'' he said.
Hydropower was the first source of electricity in New York, Besha said.
By 1889, there were 200 hydropower plants in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Hydropower accounted for 25 percent of electricity generated in the country in 1920. By 1940, 40 percent of U.S. power was generated by water.
Now that number is around 7 percent.
As Americans demanded more and more power, the country looked to other sources, Besha said.
In New York, most electricity comes from nuclear and fossil fuels -- oil and natural gas.
''It has its ups and downs,'' Besha said of the hydroelectric industry in recent years.
Gov. George Pataki announced in January that he would require 25 percent of the state's electricity to be generated by renewable resources within the next decade.
Hydropower, as produced in New York, has very little effect on the environment, Besha said. The primary concern is the disruption of fish, something that has been resolved in modern plants, he said. Critics of hydropower also say that plants disrupt the water's salinity.
Hydro plants produce less energy than nuclear or fossil fuel burning plants, but take up little space and can be more numerous than other electric plants, Besha said.
In addition to the historic preservation groups, closer to home, Supervisor Ken DeCerce is watching the situation closely.
DeCerce said the town would benefit if Besha could get the plant up and running.
''I like what he's got in mind,'' DeCerce said. ''I'd like to see electricity coming out of it.''
DeCerce said he'd like to see Albany Engineering take over operation of the plant because the company would gain a stake in the facilitiy's future.
''If they're making money, we can expect more,'' he said.
DeCerce and Besha both said they'd like to see public access to plant, as a museum or hydroelectric teaching tool.
Please see HYDRO, page 8
