Executive Speeches

Excerpts from remarks of Roger B. Kelley, president and chief executive officer of the New York Power Authority, at ceremonies on the St. Lawrence power project’s Robert Moses-Robert H. Saunders Power Dam to mark the project’s 50th anniversary and the rededication of the International Friendship Monument, Massena, New York.

June 24, 2008

This morning, we come together to rededicate the International Friendship Monument that stands here at the center of the dam—on the boundary line between the United States and Canada.  In so doing, we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the start of operations at this superb international power project that was built by the Authority and Ontario Power Generation’s predecessor—Ontario Hydro. 

The monument was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth the Second at the project’s dedication on June 27, 1959.  It honors the shared sense of purpose—and commitment to freedom and peace—that made possible the construction of this massive project in the face of almost unimaginable challenges. 

The monument has recently been refurbished—making today’s rededication all the more fitting. 

This power project is truly an engineering marvel.  The Moses-Saunders dam houses 16 turbine-generators on each side of the border.  The project also includes two other dams, miles of dikes and various other features.  But none is more meaningful than the International Friendship Monument.  

The symbolism of the 60-foot-high aluminum arch—with one leg in Canada and the other in the United States—is as powerful in its way as the force of any of the 32 generating units.  And the words on the monument are as stirring now as they were on that June day when the project was dedicated: 

“This stone bears witness to the common purpose of two nations whose frontiers are the frontiers of friendship, whose ways are the ways of freedom, and whose works are the works of peace.” 

Today—as we rededicate this monument—we also recommit the Power Authority and Ontario Power Generation to a relationship marked by cooperation, grounded in trust and strengthened by friendship.