Betsy, the project flunks the napkin test and is wrong for the time.  It's time, if it ever was, is in the past and has gotten progressively more wrong going forward.  I wish it were not so, I am a fan of Hydro.  But not wrong hydro.  There are a lot of smoke and mirrors in your piece; left out are the costs, both known and ignored.  Also left out is the cost of the electricity at first production.  It will not, can not and should not compete with existing generating capacity.  It would be a train wreck and both the State and consumers would be saddled with yet another boondoggle.  Kill the project, put the funds back into the general fund.  The mood and times are not such for subtle approaches, the sledge hammer is looking better all the time.