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Description:
Beautifully engraved certificate from the Power Authority of the State of New York issued in 1955. This historic document was printed by the American Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of an allegorical man sitting infront of a dam. This item has the printed signatures of the Company’s President and Secretary and is over 46 years old.
Certificate Vignette The New York Power Authority has a long and proud history that has influenced the electric utility industry far beyond the borders of New York State. As an early experiment in public power, it served as a model for federal initiatives such as the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Bonneville Power Administration, yet faced years of debate and delay in New York. Today, the Power Authority produces some of the cheapest electricity in North America, helping to drive New York’s economic revival, while its efforts to promote efficient use of energy and to develop new, environmentally friendly power sources continue to break new ground and to draw national and international attention. 'Benefit of the People' The first seeds of a power authority were planted by New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes (later Chief Justice of the United States), who in 1907 declared that the state’s undeveloped waterpower "should be preserved and held for the benefit of the people and should not be surrendered to private interests." Planning for public ownership began, but a proposal eventually foundered in the Legislature because of its high cost. In 1914, Theodore Roosevelt, former Governor and President, warned against "waterpower barons" seeking a monopoly on New York’s natural resources. Governor Alfred E. Smith called throughout much of the 1920s for hydropower development by a state authority, but his efforts failed to win approval in the Legislature. Ultimately, Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt gained public and legislative support for a Power Authority "to give back to the people the waterpower which is theirs." In 1931, a commission established to study the hydroelectric potential of the St. Lawrence River called for creation of the Authority to build generating facilities on the river. And on April 27, 1931, Roosevelt signed the Power Authority Act into law, calling it the most important action taken during that year’s legislative session. "It is my earnest hope that this is the forerunner of cheaper electricity for the homes and farms and small business people of the state," the governor said in a radio speech as he prepared to sign the legislation. But 23 years were to pass before construction began on the St. Lawrence power project. The delay was caused principally by navigation interests’ opposition to the St. Lawrence Seaway, which was developed concurrently with the power project. The solution was found in an agreement the United States had signed with Great Britain in 1909, known as the Boundary Waters Treaty, which established the International Joint Commission (IJC) to resolve disputes over use of the St. Lawrence and other waterways along the U.S.-Canadian border. In 1952, the IJC granted permits to the Power Authority and a neighboring Canadian utility, Ontario Hydro (now Ontario Power Generation), to build a power project spanning the international border. The Dream Becomes a Reality By 1954, all necessary approvals were in place for the development of the St. Lawrence project, and Robert Moses, New York’s "Master Builder," who had been designated by Governor Thomas E. Dewey as Power Authority chairman, was ready to go to work. In cooperation with Ontario Hydro, Moses and his construction army transformed millions of tons of concrete, stone and steel into a power-producing marvel. The Power Authority's 800,000 kilowatt (kw) share of the facility is today known as the St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project. An accelerated construction schedule led to the start of electricity production in July 1958 and delivery of full power a year later, two years ahead of the original schedule. Even as work on the St. Lawrence River proceeded, the Power Authority prepared for an even more complex project, to be located on the lower Niagara River, about five miles downstream from Niagara Falls. Private companies had been generating electricity along the Niagara since 1881, but impetus for a new project came when a 1950 treaty with Canada made more of the river's water available for power production while assuring that the beauty of Niagara Falls would be preserved. As at St. Lawrence, a variety of interests vied for the rights to large-scale hydroelectric development in the early 1950s. On June 7, 1956, the dispute came to a sudden and dramatic end when a rockslide destroyed the area’s largest privately owned hydroelectric plant, severely limiting the availability of low-cost power in the region. The time for debate was over. With tens of thousands of industrial jobs endangered, Congress passed the Niagara Redevelopment Act in 1957, paving the way for the Power Authority to obtain a license and begin construction by March 1958. The 2,400,000-kw Niagara Power Project was the largest hydropower complex in the Western World when it began operating in January 1961—less than three years after construction began. President John F. Kennedy, who joined three former presidents—Dwight D. Eisenhower, Harry S. Truman and Herbert Hoover—in sending congratulations, called the Niagara project "an outstanding engineering achievement" and an "example to the world of North American efficiency and determination." The Second Generation Low-cost power from the two giant hydroelectric projects flowed to upstate consumers and to factories providing thousands of jobs. But with most of New York’s hydroelectric potential already developed, attention shifted to new sources of energy to meet increasing needs. In this climate, the Power Authority’s "second ge
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