NORWICH – The historic sites within a group of power line hot spots on the East Coast – including the communities threatened by New York Regional Interconnect Inc.’s $1.6 billion project – have been listed among the nation’s most endangered.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a Washington-based historic preservation society with 270,000 members nationwide, has included all sensitive areas within Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York state, New Jersey and Delaware on its list of the country’s “11 Most Endangered Historic Places.”

Each of the seven states, plus Ohio and Washington, D.C., are slated to become a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor – where electricity transmission projects, despite heavy opposition, could get fast-tracked around state and local authority by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in order to relieve energy congestion in metropolitan areas.

“It’s a highly significant area of historic value and scenic value; all of which is at stake,” said National Trust Program Officer and Regional Attorney Roberta Lane during a phone interview Monday, referring to the 190 miles of upstate New York that could be impacted by NYRI’s 115-foot-tall high voltage transmission line. “The regions this would impact are some of the most important in New York state – with value for the entire nation.”