the_dorf t1_jdkm4bw wrote on March 25, 2023 at 1:56 AM

This is a tough call; while it is nice for new infrastructure for the betterment of electricity (even if not for PA); the other hydroelectric dams are getting up there in age, especially Safe Harbor and Conowingo.

ThatOneSalesGuy t1_jdm110y wrote on March 25, 2023 at 11:59 AM

How is it a tough call? Energy companies should have no right to force people out of their homes just to make an extra dollar. Pa is a net energy exporter, we don’t need another power plant! We need homes!

Super_C_Complex t1_jdm91kd wrote on March 25, 2023 at 1:18 PM

I'm not sure why you're being down voted.

It literally says in the article that it would be a private company doing this and would require multiple people to lose their homes and farms.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that a private company can't exercise eminent domain so it would have to be up to the government. And I'm not sure if townships are given eminent Domain authority

the_dorf t1_jdmen5p wrote on March 25, 2023 at 2:05 PM

This is the thing; the private company would have to buy up the land of those homes affected in order to move forward with the development. Probably buy it unfairly to the residents of the area (rural), where their relocation would not be equally the same.

It feels somewhat similar to how the Phantoms hockey arena and the redevelopment of downtown Allentown that private entities used eminent domain to rebuild the area. It's been a decade now and while its nice the area is rebuilt okay (a sinkhole haven), but the people they wanted to move in (young professionals) have not really filled in well.

It's a tough call on what happens. I feel bad for the residents. Another issue is the ecology of the environment of both the fauna/flora. Read about the issues with shad reproduction, and its sad.

Socketfusion t1_jdp1eyj wrote on March 26, 2023 at 1:41 AM

Conowingo is fine except all the pollution it dumps into the Chesapeake because everyone is fighting over who should pay for dredging. And a lot of that is on PA for not complying with the EPA consent decree. Sediment and erosion control as well as water quality laws in PA are garbage.