'Horrendous': Big contingent of political leaders oppose Cuffs Run pumped storage project

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, speaking at a makeshift podium at the John Wright Restaurant overlooking the Susquehanna River, said, “I don’t think there’s ever been anything like this.”

It was unusual. Elected officials from York and Lancaster counties on both sides of the river, got together on a damp, chilly Monday morning to express their opposition to a hydroelectric energy storage project proposed to be built by Cuffs Run, a few miles downriver.

“I don’t know when something like this ever happened before when elected officials from York and Lancaster counties come together to oppose a project,” Smucker said.

The opposition among elected officials to the $2.1 billion project, which would include construction of a 580-acre reservoir on the bluff overlooking the river at Cuffs Run, is unanimous, Smucker said.

It seemed to be. Attending the Monday morning briefing and press conference were members of the state Legislature and the county commissioners from both counties.

The officials have signed a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, expressing their opposition to the project, citing the displacement of more than 40 families, the loss of prime farmland and natural wilderness and when they referred to as the unnecessary nature of the project to justify their opposition. The letter – the text wasn’t released immediately – asked FERC to reject the project.

FERC, on Feb. 1, accepted a preliminary permit application from York Energy Storage, a Reading-based company that proposed building the project.

The project, which was first proposed in the 1990s and was resurrected and abandoned in 2011, came back to life in 2023. FERC rejected the plans last fall, citing a variety of issues, including that the plans were not as detailed as they needed to be. The company resubmitted revised plans in December.

Since the project has resurfaced, elected officials have caught a lot of flak from residents who oppose it. State Rep. Wendy Fink, a Republican whose district includes the Chanceford Township site for the proposed project, said her office received “many phone calls” from her constituents who oppose it.

The project, she said, “would destroy the lives of families” who have lived on that “exceptional” farmland for generations. “We should be supporting our local farmers, not shutting them down,” she said.

Ken Heffner, chair of the Chanceford Township board of supervisors, put it more bluntly. People, he said, “are angry.” He said the township welcomes the efforts of national, state and county elected officials to block the project.

“I don’t know if there’s anything we can do other than oppose it,” he said. “It’s very important that these people came out. Frankly, we can’t fight it. We still have five bridges out from five years ago.”

Elected officials stressed the environmental impact of the project and the unfairness of it. “We have our fair share of dams,” said York County President Commissioner Julie Wheeler. “We provide our fair share of energy, and we have our fair share of environmental impacts.”

Wheeler said the project would consume 14 percent of the farmland that York County has worked to preserve and protect from development and cause “irreversible” damage to “rich farmland” and “natural beauty.”

State Sen. Kristen Philips-Hill, a Republican who represents the area and who has opposed previous high-voltage power-line projects in southern York County, was blunt, calling the project that would be “bigger than the Chesapeake Bay bridge” as “horrendous.”

She cited figures that indicated that Maryland would benefit much more from the project than those whose land would be flooded to accommodate it to bolster her argument. Citing figures provided by the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office, she said Pennsylvania produces 81 percent more energy than it consumes while Maryland produces 25 percent less energy than it needs. York County, between its three hydroelectric dams on the Susquehanna and the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, produces more than its fair share of energy, she said.

The York Energy Storage project, she said, is intended to serve as a battery to meet the needs of Baltimore and the Washington suburbs. If Maryland needs the energy, she said, let that state find a site for the project.

“We are a welcoming community,” she said. “But you are not welcome here. Enough is enough.”

In response to a question from a reporter, Philips-Hall also cited the fact that the project would consume more energy than it produced. The idea is that the site would pump water into the reservoir during times of low demand and then release it to generate electricity during periods of high demand, when energy prices spike. Pumping the water up the 225-foot-high bluff would consume more energy than its turbines could produce, she said.

More: Cuffs Run hydroelectric project gains preliminary approval. Environmental groups oppose it

The officials gathered at Monday’s event were also unanimous that they did not oppose development of new energy sources. But they said the Cuff’s Run project is not the answer.

“We will do everything we can to stop this project,” Smucker, whose district covers 60 percent of York County, said. “There is no sense in going forward with this project. We’re going to stop it.”

Columnist/reporter Mike Argento has been a York Daily Record staffer since 1982. Reach him at mike@ydr.com. 

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Cuffs Run: York, Lancaster County political leaders oppose project