New York power

Generates renewable electricity from the Black River, supporting New York communities and producing enough electricity for about 2,300 homes for a year.*

Air quality & health in Jefferson County

Jefferson County has a population of 114,787. Across five conditions the American Lung Association tracks — childhood asthma, adult asthma, COPD, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease — it reports a combined 21,824 cases in the county.

The county received a grade of B for ozone pollution. No particle pollution grade is available.

Federal monitoring recorded 255 days of good air quality and 16 moderate days in the county over the most recent year, with 0 days rated unhealthy for sensitive groups.

Long-term exposure to air pollution has been linked to certain health conditions, particularly for children and older adults. Where electricity comes from affects how much combustion pollution is produced on the grid.

These figures describe the county as a whole and are not specific to this facility. Sources: American Lung Association – State of the Air (New York); U.S. EPA Air Quality Index.

The story behind this New York renewable energy facility

Of New York’s 142 hydropower plants, Herrings, in Carthage, ranks #61 by the electricity it produced in 2024. It sits on the Black River and has been running since 1924. Hydropower uses flowing water to spin a turbine, a wheel-like machine that turns a generator, which makes the electricity.

Its three generators can produce up to 5.4 MW, which is its top output at any single moment (a megawatt is a unit of power). Over 2024 it made 23.0 gigawatt-hours of electricity, enough to power about 2,300 homes. A gigawatt-hour is simply a large amount of energy, and the homes figure shows what that means for everyday use. Erie Boulevard Hydropower LP owns it.

Environmental impact

Produces electricity without burning fuel, which avoids roughly 8,900 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year compared with producing the same electricity from the national mix of power sources — about the same as the carbon absorbed by about 9,200 acres of forest in a year.*

Nearby places worth exploring

Carthage sits in Jefferson County, close to Watertown and the broader Thousand Islands region. The resort villages of Clayton and Alexandria Bay lie along the St. Lawrence River, and Sackets Harbor is on the shore of Lake Ontario.

Local school district

Carthage Central School District

Common questions

* Homes-powered and emissions comparisons are annual estimates based on national averages from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. “Homes powered” describes a quantity of electricity, not direct service to specific households. How we calculate this.