OLD FORGE — Representatives from the Lower Lackawanna Valley Citizens Alliance educated residents from Old Forge, Ransom Twp. and other municipalities Sunday afternoon about the environmental and health ramifications associated with a proposed hydroelectric power facility.
About 50 people attended the event at the Old Forge Fire Department, designed to provide residents with information about the proposed Old Forge Pumped Storage Project.
The concept by Renewable Energy Aggregators Inc. of Pittston and Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, calls for construction of two large reservoirs and a power plant facility in a 1,300-acre project area straddling Old Forge and Ransom Twp. in Lackawanna County and Duryea in Luzerne County, according to an application for a federal permit.
A lower reservoir would be constructed along the Lackawanna River on the Old Forge/Duryea border, said Michelle Wadika, vice chair of the Lower Lackawanna Valley Citizens Alliance. An upper reservoir would be constructed in Ransom Twp., above Austin Heights, at an elevation of around 1,500 feet.
Underground pipes would connect the two reservoirs. Water flowing downhill between them would generate electricity. This “Old Forge borehole hydroelectric pumped storage project” would operate on a closed loop.
Michelle Wadika, vice chair of the Lower Lackawanna Valley Citizens Alliance, educates residents about the ramifications of the proposed Old Forge Pumped Storage Project during an informational session Sunday afternoon at the Old Forge Fire Department. (ROBERT TOMKAVAGE/STAFF PHOTO)
A site plan filed July 7 with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the “Old Forge Pumped Storage Project.” The plan depicts infrastructure in Ransom Twp., Duryea and Old Forge. (SCREENSHOT VIA FERC FILING)
Old Forge resident Elaine Orechovsky signs a petition opposing the proposed Old Forge Pumped Storage Project during an educational event hosted by the Lower Lackawanna Valley Citizens Alliance Sunday afternoon at the Old Forge Fire Department. (ROBERT TOMKAVAGE/STAFF PHOTO)
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Michelle Wadika, vice chair of the Lower Lackawanna Valley Citizens Alliance, educates residents about the ramifications of the proposed Old Forge Pumped Storage Project during an informational session Sunday afternoon at the Old Forge Fire Department. (ROBERT TOMKAVAGE/STAFF PHOTO)
If the project gets federal approval it could become an eminent domain situation, which would allow the applicant to take formal possession of the land within the project boundary without contest, Wadika said.
There are currently 43 operational pump storage facilities in the United States, but no new closed-loop facilities have been built in country in the last 20 years, she added.
Additionally, none of the plant’s nearly 200-megawatt generation capacity is expected to go back to the wider power grid, but instead would go to “an onsite, undisclosed location,” Wadika said.
Wadika also expressed concerns about the unknown as she noted there is no current precedent for determining the potential impact of combining the high-pressure pumping and storage of acid mine drainage and the burning of fossil fuels in the same facility.
“We don’t oppose the construction of data centers or new energy infrastructure, we oppose sacrificing our natural resources when it’s perfectly feasible to build in previously industrialized areas,” she said.
Cheryl Macheska of Ransom Twp. expressed concerns Sunday about potential catastrophic consequences from the project.
“I don’t know (who) thinks it’s a good idea to put a dam on the top of a mountain,” she said. “We have to learn from history. Look what happened to Johnstown — the dam burst and wiped out the whole town. It’s no longer a reclamation. We don’t need hydro plants to burst. We need to fight. We have to project our greenspace, our land and our water for future generations.”
Sandy Dickison, an Old Forge resident and communications director for the Lower Lackawanna Valley Citizens Alliance, said citizens must band together to try to stop the project from moving forward.
“Fighting this pumped storage project really is our first step to keeping data centers out of our town,” she said. “If there’s no power plant, the appeal to the data centers starts to fade. This fight doesn’t just affect us, it affects our kids, our grandkids and the future generations to come.”
James Cianci, chair of the Lower Lackawanna Valley Citizens Alliance — which aims to protect Northeast Pennsylvania’s communities, natural resources and ecosystems from high-impact development by collaborating with elected officials and concerned citizens — said he felt it was important to educate residents about the current state of the proposal.
“I think the biggest thing is to clear up some confusion about whether or not there is a data center planned for our town,” he said. “At the moment, there is not, but there is a pumped storage hydro power plant proposal that we believe is going to inevitably serve a data center. Two of the biggest concerning facts are the incorporation of a 200-megawatt natural gas generator to pump the water for the system and the use of acid mine drainage from the Old Forge borehole to fill the reservoirs, if needed, for the pumping. The entire valley is lined with abandoned mines, so there’s a lot of potential for mine subsidences and seepage.”