Harvard Hedges On Storm King

The University this week made its first major official announcement on its Black Rock Forest in over two years, a compromise apparently designed to please everyone and no one at the same time.

Daniel Steiner '54, general counsel to the University, said Monday that Harvard would not consider selling any part of the forest to Consolidated Edison, the New York power utility, "unless we were under genuine threat of having it taken by eminent domain." He strengthened his position a day later by adding that only the threat of a successful court action would force consideration of a sale.

The University's announcement brought less than friendly response from Con Ed, which needs 300 acres of the 3600-acre forest for a controversial pumped storage power plant it wants to build near Storm King Mountain in Cornwall, N.Y.

Charles Lohrfink, assistant to the vice president of the utility's West-chester, N.Y., office, said Tuesday that "the project is vital to future years of power. We would have to exercise whatever powers we have to build the plant."

As a public utility, Con Ed's powers include that of eminent domain--but Lohrfink refused to acknowledge the utility might take that route, saying that Con Ed would have to consider Harvard's announcement "in light of the entire proceedings."

Those proceedings took an unusual turn in New York's Federal District Court this week, as the Army Corps of Engineers reversed a previous stance and stated in a court brief that it feels an additional construction permit will be required before the Storm King project can be built.

Both Con Ed and the Corps had previously agreed that no further permits were necessary, although they have been issued early in the project's long history and had expired in 1965 and 1966.

The brief was filed as part of a suit brought by Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference.