page_title: Storm King Mountain (New York)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Storm King Mountain (New York) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Storm King Mountain New York, Historical Marker on Hwy 293 near West Point
context_page_description: Storm King Mountain is a mountain on the west bank of the Hudson River just south of Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York. Together with Breakneck Ridge on the opposite bank of the river it forms "Wey-Gat" or Wind Gate, the picturesque northern narrows of the Hudson Highlands. Its distinctive curved ridge is the most prominent aspect of the view south down Newburgh Bay, from Newburgh, Beacon, and the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. It can also be seen by southbound travelers on nearby sections of the New York State Thruway. This view was a popular subject for early artists of the Hudson River School.
  While thought of as the highest point in the area, its summit reaching approximately 1,340 feet above sea level, the eastern summit known officially as Butter Hill is actually higher, with an elevation of 1,380 feet.
context_section_description: During 1962 the mountain became the topic of an environmental controversy when local activists formed the Scenic Hudson Preservation Coalition (known presently simply as Scenic Hudson) to fight plans by utility Consolidated Edison to cut away part of the mountain near the river and build a pumped storage hydro-electric plant complete with transmission lines across the Hudson River for an ambitious power generating scheme which would also have entailed creating a reservoir in much of what is now Black Rock Forest. In a lawsuit brought by the coalition, Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. Federal Power Commission, a judge ruled for the first time that environmentalists had standing to challenge executive branch decisions in federal court. During 1979 Con Edison finally abandoned even a greatly reduced version of the project, and settled another lawsuit against their Indian Point facility by agreeing to regulate the operation of their Hudson River power plants so as to minimize the number of fish they killed and endow the Hudson River Foundation with $12 million.
  After forest fires on the mountain during the dry summer of 1999, unexploded ordnance remaining from 19th century artillery tests and training at the nearby United States Military Academy was discovered in some areas close to the trails. As a result, hiking on the mountain was prohibited until October 2002, when authorities could be sure it had been removed safely.
  On February 20, 2011, a NYPD helicopter rescued two Fourth Class "plebes" from the United States Military Academy nearby, who had stranded themselves 500 feet up on the southern cliff face while rappelling, when a New York State Police chopper proved unable to complete the task.
caption: Historical marker near Rte 293 adjacent the West Point golf course.
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