•The Fight for Cuffs Run
  • •The Fight for Cuffs Run
  • •Agricultural Cost-Share in Pennsylvania
  • Stormwater Runoff in Pennsylvania
  • Conowingo Dam and Chesapeake Bay
  • The Susquehanna River
  • •Susquehanna by the Numbers
  • Agriculture
  • •Land Use

The Fight for Cuffs Run

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Residences, farms, and forests on 580 acres of Cuffs Run are in danger of being flooded by a hydroelectric facility.

© John Pavoncello

A Pennsylvania landscape of rare beauty and ecological significance is under threat along with dozens of families and their farmland.

Nestled along where York County, Pennsylvania, meets the Susquehanna River lies a landscape of rare beauty and ecological significance—Cuffs Run. This region of forested hills, preserved farmland, and scenic trails has been cherished by generations of families and outdoor enthusiasts. But now, this treasured place is under threat.

In 2023, York Energy Storage, LLC revived a decades-old proposal to build a massive, pumped storage hydroelectric facility at Cuffs Run. The plan calls for a 225-foot-high dam, the flooding of 580 acres, and the excavation of a 1.8-mile reservoir in the heart of the Susquehanna Riverlands. 

This industrial-scale project would erase prime and protected farmland, displace nearly 40 families, destroy carbon sequestering and biodiverse forests that support wildlife and filter water, and sever beloved trails like the Mason-Dixon (recognized by the National Park Service as a heritage trail) and Enola Low Grade. Cuffs Run, home to naturally reproducing brook trout, would be devastated, as would vital habitat for plants and animals classified as of special concern.

A pumped storage hydroelectric facility works by moving water between two reservoirs—one uphill, one downhill—to generate electricity.

While once considered innovative, this technology is now widely viewed as outdated and environmentally harmful.

Today’s energy future lies in cleaner, more efficient solutions like battery storage and grid-scale renewables that don’t require flooding forests or displacing communities.

How CBF and the Cuffs Run Community Are Fighting Back

The Cuffs Run project has been proposed four times since the 1970s. When York Energy Storage, LLC revived the project in 2023, it was quickly met with strong local opposition—including a bipartisan array of state and federal legislators who represent constituents living in or around the proposed project. Despite this resistance, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted the company a preliminary permit in November 2024, giving it four years to assess the project's feasibility.

A roadside orange and black sign reads Stop Eminent Domain, Help Save 1000 plus Acres of Forest Farm Land.

Since it was first proposed in the 1970s, the Cuffs Run hydroelectric project has met with strong local opposition.

Brian Gish/CBF Staff

But we’re not standing by.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, along with a growing coalition of partners and residents, has mobilized to protect Cuffs Run and its associated landscape. Together, we’re standing up for clean water, healthy forests, and the right to preserve the places we love. Learn more about what we’ve been doing: 

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