Clotheslines seemed to have gone the way of the porch radio — quaint traditions of previous generations, now confined to old photos and period films.

But a recent movement has tied the clothesline to one of today's most pressing issues and, quite possibly, made the line a hip place for clothes to dry. Members of "Right to Dry" groups, popping up nationwide, are touting the clothesline as an easy way to go green: It cuts the need for energy-gobbling electric dryers.

"This is a novel approach to environmental activism because almost everybody has to do laundry," said Alexander Lee, executive director of Project Laundry List, a New Hampshire-based clothesline rights group."

Project Laundry List advocates legislation that would override neighborhood organization prohibitions against clotheslines.

The movement's first test will be in North Carolina, where activists hope to prove clotheslines are one of the "energy devices" that a new law protects.

With dryers costing more than $100 a year in energy for most households (and much more than that in Hawai'i, where electricity is more expensive), the benefits to line drying are enormous, Lee said. There are 88 million electric dryers in the U.S., according to 1995 data from the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. Each year, they consume 1,079 kilowatt hours of energy per household and emit 2,224 pounds of carbon dioxide.

But many homeowners worry the chaos of backyard clotheslines will bring down property values, said Frank Rathbun, spokesman for the Community Associations Institute.

Nearly 59 million Americans live in association-governed communities, according to the institute, and many restrict or ban clotheslines.

"We recommend that associations conduct periodic reviews of their rules to ensure they still have the support of residents," Rathbun said. "A rule that residents wanted 10 years ago may not have support today."