Cuffs Runs Hydroelectric Proposal
2023
In Feb. 2023, a Reading-based company called York Energy Storage submitted a proposal which would DESTROY the remote and wild undeveloped riverfront around Cuff’s Run in York County by building a pumped storage hydro facility. This project will alter our landscape which includes immense recreational opportunities, hundreds of acres of prime farmland, 600 acres of forests, and approximately 49 properties to produce power in an area already monopolized by power production.
This area is arguably the most untouched and scenic in the entire landscape. Hikers share that this is one of the most remote, rugged, and beautiful sections of the trail along the river in the heart of the Susquehanna Riverlands. Threats of this project include disturbances to Bald Eagles, pollution to well water by river water intrusion, pollution to river water due to change in temperature or dissolved oxygen, fish kills and impacts to aquatic life, and adverse effects on air quality due to greater methane or carbon discharges.
Our organization joins Cuffs Run Alliance, Farm & Natural Lands Trust of York County, Lancaster Conservancy and Susquehanna National Heritage Area in opposition to this proposed project.
READ IT HERE: Rejection of Preliminary Permit Application Letter 9/6/23
This Issue In the News
9/7/23
7/19/23
5/29/23
3/24/23
2/28/23
2011
Over a decade after citizen outcry halted a proposed hydroelectric facility on Cuffs Run, another company believed the scenic Cuffs Run natural area, located off the Mason Dixon Trail on the western shore of the Susquehanna, was ripe for the plucking. Like the public outcry 10 years ago, Spring 2011 proved that citizens remain opposed to a wasteful and inappropriate energy project in their backyards.
Among other impacts, the proposed facility would have put historic farmlands and homesteads, Native American archeological sites, and a Girl Scout camp underwater, not to mention the lack of economic benefits for local communities. Lower Susquehanna RIVERKEEPER® coordinated a vast letter-writing campaign, public opposition at township meetings, and submitted technical comments against this new hydroelectric project which led to scrapping the project! The company stated on the record that, in the face of such strong grassroots opposition, the project did not meet the appropriate consensus to continue.
