York Dispatch, Proposed $2.3 hydroelectric dam project clears regulatory hurdle on its way
to impact studies
The $2.3 billion hydroelectric dam proposal along the Susquehanna River south of Wrightsville has new life thanks to preliminary approval from the U.S. Federal Regulatory Energy Commission.
FERC's preliminary approval, which came Thursday, does not mean construction will be coming anytime soon on the 1,000-acre project in Chanceford Township. The next step would be a potentially four-year-long process of reviewing any impacts the project could have on the area.
Dam developer William McMahon, of York Energy Storage, said the approval is an important step in developing the project.
"It's proven technology," he told The York Dispatch on Monday. "There's not a lot of innovation here. It's been done."
This is a dam for pump/storage production of electricity, one way to "store" energy from renewables like wind and solar. Using "excess" renewable energy, water is pumped up hill to a reservoir, where gravity can be used to run it through turbines to make electricity when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine. So of course environmentalists are opposed:
"We have concerns over, obviously, water quality, water usage, impacts to aquatic life, impacts to the groundwater, you know, and obviously impacts to the landscape. It would flood," Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Ted Evgeniadis said, at the time.
The Wombat has Rule 5 Monday: Coffee, please ready and waiting at The Other McCain.
yes. taking water from the river and putting it back will impact water quality. we have become a nation of idiots and preening fools
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