In September 1962, the Consolidated Edison Company announced plans to build a pumped storage facility, the largest of its kind in the world, at Storm Kind Mountain near Cornwall, New York. The initial application for license to construct the plant was filed with the Federal Power Commission in January 1963. On November 8, 1963, a small group of concerned citizens met at the home of Carl Carmer and formed the Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference to fight the pumped storage project on the grounds that it posed a threat to the Cornwall water supply and Hudson River fisheries as well as to scenic and historic Storm King Mountain. The case lasted for 17 years. In a negotiated settlement in December 1980, Consolidated Edison agreed to drop the plan for the Storm King facility. In the meantime, Scenic Hudson emerged at the forefront of the environmental movement. Over the past thirty-five years, Scenic Hudson, Inc. has safeguarded over 18,000 acres of irreplaceable landscapes, protected productive farmland, reclaimed and transformed neglected industrial waterfront sites, and purchased strategic properties to revive community centers.