Larry Rulison of the Times Union reports on a proposed Quebec-New York City electricity line that could relieve bottlenecks in the system, including those in Greene and Dutchess counties. Champlain Hudson Power Express would create a 333-mile transmission power line that would run from Quebec to New York City and pass through our area in the Hudson River. According to previous reporting in The Daily Mail, the proposed line is in the Hudson River a little north of Coeymans in Albany County, and stays there until well past the southern end of Columbia County. On Mon., Feb. 27, two Hudson Valley environmental groups endorsed a slightly different path in the river for the line. "Riverkeeper and Scenic Hudson concluded that adverse impacts to the river are expected to be negligible and will be outweighed by a mitigation fund for projects that benefit habitats and ecosystems of the Hudson River and other areas along the project’s course from Canada," their press release said. According to the proposal, cheaper power generated by Canadian hydro plants would effectively lower electric rates for consumers across the state by $650 million a year. New York's powerful unions and trade groups such as the Independent Power Producers of New York oppose the plan because the line will not be connected to the rest of the state's electrical grid. Rulison writes that the line would help replace the 2,000 megawatts of power that would be lost if the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester County were forced to shut down. Read the article in the Times Union.