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License loss pulls plug on plant

Mining museum project now in jeopardy

April 20, 2006

BY BILL SWAYZE AND LAWRENCE RAGONESE, Star-Ledger Staff

A proposed $2 billion underground hydroelectric plant in Rockaway

Township has lost its federal license, putting in jeopardy plans for a

mining museum and historic park.

The license was terminated in December, after Mount Hope Waterpower

Project LLP failed to move ahead with the project, said J. Mark

Robinson, director of the Office of Energy Projects for the Federal

Energy Regulatory Commission.

Gone with the license is an agreement that mandated preservation of

the New Leonard mine complex, and called for funding to preserve the

Ford-Faesch Manor House.

"All of the conditions in place as part of that license agreement are

no longer in play," said Robinson. "When the license ended, so did

agreements made by the company with FERC. They are no longer

enforceable."

The Mount Hope Historical Conservancy, a 14-year-old group dedicated

to preserving the old mining operation, say the company has been

dismantling some of the structures to rent space to generate revenue.

"They have been throwing things out, taking things apart," said Marion

Harris, head of the conservancy. "This is not an Erector set. You

don't do that to a historic site."

The hydro project, which has been in the works since the 1970s, would

generate 2,000 megawatts of electricity by spilling water from a

manmade, 55-acre reservoir down an 1,800-foot shaft and through

turbines.

Several companies have tried to make a go of the project but have had

difficulty raising funds. A license for the project was granted in

1992 and extended three times due to the intervention of Congress.

Last month, Mount Hope Waterpower took the first steps in a long

process to get the license back, Robinson said.

The mining operation at the Leonard complex ended in the 1970s and the

structures and historic remnants remained in good shape, said

historians. But the owners of the property have been altering and

removing the historic fabric of the site, and renting out sections of

the buildings.

Hydro project manager Sam Ramiz disagreed, saying what has been taken

apart can be restored. He vowed to continue working with theconservancy on preservation even though the formal agreement expired.

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.), who long worked to get the

hydro project's license extended and to foster preservation at the

site, intends to monitor the process.

"I intend to review all the details of the application," he said last

night. "I strongly believe it is important that FERC take the

historical integrity of the property into account."

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The mining industry in Rockaway Township, which dates to the late

1700s, helped fuel the American Revolution and the Industrial

Revolution. The biggest supplier of ammunition to the Continental Army

mined iron at the site.

The mine buildings that concern the conservancy date to World War II.

The New Leonard complex included a system of shops, warehouses and

buildings, with a shaft descending 2,800 feet to the various mine

tunnels.

It is the last standing iron mining complex in the region, saidconservancy member David Bogert.

"They are supposed to be protecting the site, and they are willfully

destroying it," said Bogert.

© 2006 The Star Ledger

© 2006 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.

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