With electricity costs soaring and the public pushing for more ‘‘green’‘ energy, the tiny Carbon County borough of Weatherly has dusted off an idea from the environmental movement of the 1970s: Put a hydroelectric plant on the Lehigh River at the massive Francis E. Walter Dam.

The borough, which first looked at a hydro plant more than 30 years ago, has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a preliminary permit to study building two generating units that could produce up to 26 gigawatt-hours a year, Borough Manager Harold Pudliner said. That’s more than 1,000 times the 21 megawatt-hours a year used by Weatherly’s 2,621 residents.  read more »