Swift Current Energy’s proposed Black Cherry Wind project would reportedly require 60,000 acres across McKean County — nearly 10% of its total acreage.

There has been considerable speculation among the group of residents opposed to the placement of mammoth windmills in the county about whether the developer, Swift Current Energy of Massachusetts, has secured sufficient acreage for the project and, if not, what landholders might own enough to make up the difference.

The Era reached out to Swift to determine whether the 60,000 acres needed for the project have yet been signed to lease agreements and, if not, how many acres have been secured so far.

Swift representative Joey Shannon said that because the company’s lease agreements are confidential he could provide no further information.

Residents reasoned that Lyme Timber Co., a known major landholder in the Pennsylvania Wilds, would likely be one of the only entities with enough acreage to make up any shortfall.

Lyme CEO Jim Hourdequin confirmed to The Era that the company has, in fact, been in discussion with Swift Current Energy regarding the Black Cherry Wind turbine project. However, he emphasized that nothing at all has been decided to date.

Further, Hourdequin said The Era’s inquiry regarding the change.org petition circulating to try to stop the Black Cherry Wind initiative was the first he’d heard of the project — or of residents’ myriad concerns about it.

As of May 9, the “Stop the Black Cherry Wind Project in McKean County, PA” petition at change.org/blackcherry had secured 556 signatures and the Facebook group McKean County Residents Against the Black Cherry Wind Turbine Project comprised 140 members.

As of May 21, those figures were up to 1,066 signatures and 476 members.

Petition signers believe a wind project would disrupt a region known for its outdoor recreation and the tourism it supports, hunting traditions and black cherry hardwood industry. The petition also calls out a lack of public consent. A news release from change.org stated, “This effort reflects growing rural resistance to industrial-scale energy projects that risk altering the fabric of local communities.”

According to the Lyme Timber website, “In 2017 and 2018, Lyme acquired 67,500 acres of premium timberland in North Central Pennsylvania and Southwest New York in two transactions. To finance the transaction, Lyme accessed financing from conservation partners, including the state of Pennsylvania’s clean water revolving loan fund, PENNVEST, and The Conservation Fund. In exchange, Lyme donated a conservation easement on 9,400 acres, agreed to fund $750,000 of acid mine drainage remediation work, and made 51,000 additional acres available for working forest conservation easement purchases by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources over a seven year-period.”

Hourdequin stated that DCNR, to date, had not taken Lyme up on its offer to purchase any of those additional acres for conservation easements.

Now, the seven-year easement period required by that PENNVEST loan is expiring, which residents point out aligns with both the acreage and timing of the Black Cherry Wind project.

Hourdequin emphasized, “Any conclusion that there’s a link between PENNVEST acreage and anything we might be doing is a giant leap. We would have to get PENNVEST permission to do anything of that scale. We would have to seek that approval and we haven’t.”

Felicia Campbell, legislative, outreach, and policy specialist, confirmed that “PENNVEST has no knowledge of the Black Cherry Wind project or its proposed locations.”

Hourdequin added that Lyme acquired an additional 90,000 acres in Pennsylvania in late 2020, “more land that’s completely independent of PENNVEST financing.”

Asked if he believed that Lyme’s initial land acquisition with PENNVEST — public — funds helped the company to subsequently acquire 90,000 more, Hourdequin said “it enabled (Lyme) to pursue a strategy of long-term, stable ownership — to add to our ownership, get more scale and invest in the sawmills. All those things tied together — and the PENNVEST land got us there — set us on a course of long-term forestry strategy.”

He said that the Lyme family of companies are “fiduciaries, and we have to think of all the rights that we have as owners of timberland.”

Hourdequin said that Lyme, like many timber management companies, is approached frequently about projects such as wind and solar projects, and stressed that nothing has been decided and no agreements on the lands financed by PENNVEST are in place with Swift Current.

“In general,” he said, “Lyme Timber Co. believes we need to respect private property rights. Any kind of project (like Black Cherry) needs to go through a process with the community. We’re staunch believers in private property rights.”

Lyme is also, Hourdequin pointed out, committed to being a good neighbor in the communities in which it operates. Three Rivers Forest Management in Coudersport oversees 160,000 of Lyme’s acres spanning 14 counties in north central Pennsylvania and southern New York, primarily McKean, Potter, Cameron and Elk counties.

“Our focus is overwhelmingly on timber production, sustainable forestry investment in these communities,” Hourdequin said. “We support over 250 jobs in McKean and Cameron counties — investing millions and millions of dollars in good-paying, local jobs.

“There are dozens of logging contractors, truckers, sawmill employees and related parties who have employment as a result of our investments in the region.”

These expenditures include direct investments in local sawmills — in Emporium and Bradford — that Hourdequin underscored were continued even during difficult market conditions that created losses for Lyme, and when other mills were closing.

“Our objective is to grow trees. This part of Pennsylvania grows the finest hardwoods in the world,” he declared. “What we most prize about this ownership is the potential to invest in the growth of trees. We want to have a viable, sustainable forest industry that goes on for generations. We own timberland all across the U.S. and there’s no better place than McKean and Cameron county for hardwood tree growth — the species mix, diversity and potential to grow trees for the future is just really unparalleled.”

He continued, “We try to be transparent about everything we’re doing. Over the years we’ve been proactive, running a series of meetings and inviting the community to come see what we’re doing on the property — our goals and objectives.”

Hourdequin further stated Lyme and Three Rivers welcome a respectful conversation with anyone who may have concerns about or interest in the company’s land management here.

“We’re more than happy to meet with them and talk to them,” he said of concerned McKean County residents. “We make it an objective to be available to anyone who wants to talk with us about really any concern.”

Three Rivers general manager David Andress can be reached at david@threeriversforest.com and Hourdequin at jhourdequin@lymetimber.com.

Brian Bischoff and Steven Simcox​, among the change.org petition organizers, agreed.

“If Lyme is open to hearing us, we’d welcome that conversation,” they told The Era on Wednesday.

“Many people in our community, as well as visitors from outside the area, rely on access to Lyme properties for hunting, fishing, camping, hiking and other recreation. If industrial turbines were introduced on that land, it would severely threaten those uses and upset a lot of people.”

They continued, “What we’re trying to do is send a clear message that this community does not support the Black Cherry Wind project. We’re getting involved now because we want to protect McKean County before irreversible decisions are made. We’re not just trying to stop this one project. We’re trying to set a precedent — that industrial wind does not belong in a place like this, and any attempt to bring it here will face serious pushback. It’s about preserving what we have for future generations.”