YORK COUNTY, Pa. — Hundreds of acres of historic, rugged land sits along the Susquehanna River in southern York County.
It's land that could be destroyed, if a Pennsylvania energy company gets its way.
“At its heart, we have a wonderful place here," said Mark Platts, president of the Susquehanna National Heritage Area. "It’s like a national park in our own backyard and we need to protect it.”
Conservation groups like the Susquehanna National Heritage Area are fighting back against York Energy Storage’s proposed $2.1 billion hydroelectric storage facility.
The project would see a 1.8-mile dam and power turbine pumped storage facility built in the hillsides of Chanceford Township.
“The folks behind this are trying to pitch it as renewable energy even though it’s really not," explained Platts. "It takes more energy to operate than it actually generates for public use.”
According to conservationists, the proposed facility would flood 588 acres of land in the Susquehanna Riverlands Conservation Landscape, an area along the Susquehanna River they say is rich with natural, cultural, and recreational resources.
“From a land use perspective we see [this land] as very viable and something that should be celebrated and preserved, rather than developed," stated Sean Kenny, executive director of the Farm & Natural Lands Trust of York County.
The project has been proposed and scrapped several other times over the years.
“Nothing has changed over the years. It’s the same project and in fact, the same people," said Ted Evgeniadis, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper and executive director of the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association.
If the project were to become a reality, it would also flood out dozens of properties.
It would take out the homes of 36 families, including David Imhoff’s.
“I just don’t know how to make it stop forever," said Imhoff. "And to look at another ten years where we potentially can’t sell our property if something happens to us.”
We reached out to York Energy Storage for this story but didn’t hear back as of late Wednesday afternoon.
FOX43 spoke with the company’s owner back in March, when he told us because of the landscape, this area of York County is the perfect location for what it’s aiming to do.
"This is not just looking at a local concern, which I appreciate how people would feel, basically, we're trying to benefit a very much larger population," said William McMahon, owner of York Energy Storage, LLC.
York Energy is currently seeking a permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC) to keep the proposal moving forward.
On July 6, FERC sent a deficiency letter to the company, giving it 45 days to provide more clarity and improved mapping of the project.
Platts says this is also giving his group and others in opposition more time to make their voices heard.
"It's regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission," he said. "It’s far away in Washington D.C. with people that don’t know our particular area so we have to make sure they know what’s important here.”
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