CON ED DISPUTE

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The CRIMSON deserves praise for recognizing the significance of the U.S. Court of Appeals decision on the proposed Con Edison Power Plant. However, the comments by Mr. Hugh M. Raup, who was "following the legal battle with interest," deserve some clarification. Throughout the legal battle to block the power plant, the lack of a strong position from Harvard University, which owns the property, has been noticeable. Has Mr. Raup given the Con Edison proposal the careful study it demands if its full implications are to be understood? Has Mr. Raup spent much time in the Harvard Black Rock Forest?

As a resident of the area, the comment that the "230 acres would not significantly affect the 2700 acre forest" indicates a superficial knowledge of the forest. Contrary to Mr. Raup's opinion, the area to be taken over by Con Edison is of drastic significance to the woodland. The face of Storm King Mountain, White Horse Mountain, and considerable acreage in the Black Rock area were to be sacrificed for a "reservoir." The term reservoir is used only in connection with pure water, but in fact the water will be saline and polluted. Furthermore, Con Edison itself admits that it could not guarantee against seepage which would tremendously affect the surrounding watershed area. Finally, the 200 foot earthen fill dam was shown to be planned along a geological fault.

The 230 acre project would be the largest of its kind in the world. To doubt that it would seriously threaten the forest as a whole is a position subject to dispute; it would occupy one of the most used portions that surrounding Black Rock--and obliterate the main road and several trails used to enter the forest, which has been used for years by bikers, and campers, along with students of silviculture.

There are various arguments on both sides concerning the project. However, as the Second Court of Appeals decision showed, far from adequate study was given to the planning of the proposal. Furthermore, to belittle the caiantrophic affect the project would have on the woodland and wildlife of the Black Rock Forest area is to do a disservice to the group of citizens who have successfully fought, in the interest of conservation, to maintain the woodland in the face of a multi-million dollar corporation. Hayden A. Duggan '68