After 190 years, NY's Erie Canal a relic with a hefty cost

[...] a renewed court fight has drawn fresh attention to the 360-mile-long ribbon of channels, lifts and locks between Albany and Buffalo, calling into question whether taxpayers will again have to foot the hefty bill to keep it and the other canals in the system operating.

Boaters can in a short distance pass a sewage treatment facility and a stretch of undeveloped shoreline alive with kingfishers and great blue herons.

Paul Tonko, then a state assemblyman and now a congressman representing a district that includes his canal-side hometown Amsterdam, said the legislature's intention was to provide a stable source of funding, also imperative now with a renewed legal challenge to the 1992 decision.

There are hydroelectric plants on the four canals and agriculture and industry rely on their water, but for generations their greatest potential has been for recreation and development of tourist attractions in the cities and villages along their course.

Since the plant shut down in 1969, the property had become an eyesore and constant reminder of the decline of manufacturing in upstate New York.

Tonko has long believed that "heritage tourism" — something he's pushing in Congress — can be a boon for the Eric Canal and its communities, citing their roles in key moments in U.S. history, including the American Revolution, Underground Railroad and industrial revolution.