Partners File Arguments in Case Challenging FERC’s Decision on Cuffs Run Pumped Storage Facility
On Dec. 18, 2025, a coalition of conservation, recreation, and environmental organizations filed its opening brief with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in an appeal of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision to grant a preliminary permit for a pumped storage facility at Cuffs Run in York County, Pennsylvania. The Lancaster Conservancy, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association, Farm & Natural Lands Trust of York County, and Susquehanna National Heritage Area argue that FERC violated its statutory authority by granting York Energy Storage a preliminary permit and acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner. Because of these violations, this coalition asks the Court to throw out FERC’s order and the preliminary permit issued to York Energy Storage.
“FERC’s policy of granting almost all preliminary permits unless the project faces a ‘permanent legal barrier’ is contrary to Federal law, FERC’s own regulations, and basic principles of administrative law,” said Jesse Dillon, the Lancaster Conservancy’s special legal counsel. “A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision found that courts no longer have to defer to FERC’s interpretations of law. So, we asked the Court to properly interpret Federal law and reverse FERC’s decision to grant York Energy a preliminary permit.”
The coalition also argues that FERC wrongly ignored comments about how issuing the preliminary permit would harm residents, businesses, and local organizations and did not meaningfully consider public comments or assess the public interest, as required.
“For more than three decades, the owner of York Energy Storage has returned again and again with applications that cast a long shadow over this region,” said Fritz Schroeder, president and CEO of Lancaster Conservancy. “Five attempts since the 1990s have left communities and property owners in a state of uncertainty, held captive by a process never meant to be used this way. The preliminary permit system that FERC administers is designed to encourage responsible exploration. For the sake of the land, the people who call it home, and the integrity of the process itself, this preliminary permit should be overturned.”
“It is inexcusable for FERC to rubber stamp a preliminary permit and dismiss the impacts of that permit on the Susquehanna River region,” said Ted Evgeniadis, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper. “Over 1,000 comments from stakeholders, including farmers and homesteaders who feed our communities, went unheard. We are encouraged by the wide-ranging support we are receiving from partners, elected officials, neighbors, and the broader community to halt this project and ensure that Cuffs Run is protected, forever.”
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a federal court that reviews actions of federal agencies like FERC that impact residents in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The partners hired appellate counsel from Clement & Murphy, PLLC, to appeal FERC’s decision to the Third Circuit. This firm specializes in Supreme Court, appellate, and strategic litigation, and their lawyers have argued over 150 cases before the Supreme Court and countless more in federal and state appellate and trial courts throughout the country.
