U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) on Feb. 12 led a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in opposition to a proposal to construct a hydroelectric project in York County, Pa., that he said would harm the local community and environment.
York Energy Storage, LLC proposed the hydroelectric pumped storage facility along the Lower Susquehanna River at Cuffs Run. The pump storage project would flood 580 acres of protected landscape with natural, cultural, and recreational resources, said the letter, which was also signed by a number of state and local elected officials in Pennsylvania.
“I am grateful that my colleagues from both sides of the aisle and both sides of the Susquehanna River stand united in opposition to this project. We stand against this project, which would uproot families, impact preserved farms, and irreparably damage the natural beauty that so many have worked so hard to preserve along the Susquehanna River,” Rep. Smucker said in a Feb. 12 statement.
The letter to FERC officials noted that over the last 10 years, more than $100 million was invested in the area by federal, state, and local governments to create a strong outdoor recreation and tourism economy – one that would be threatened by another power generation facility on the Susquehanna River.
Rep. Smucker and his colleagues wrote that, “This project, if allowed to proceed, would destroy preserved farms, a regional scenic trail, the viewshed of a popular multimodal rail trail, and forested lands needed to help protect the ecological health of this landscape and an already impaired waterway … We stand united in opposition to this project and York Energy Storage LLC’s application.”