The Lake Erie Connector (LEC) project is a proposed 1,000 MW bidirectional underwater transmission line that would link the Province of Ontario in Canada and Pennsylvania in the U.S., allowing for the exchange of electricity across the Canada-U.S. border.
LEC would use high-voltage direct current technology and would be buried under the lakebed.
The Project consists of an approximately 42.5-mile (68.4 kilometers (km)) high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line that would be installed in the lakebed of Lake Erie from the United States-Canada border to the coast of Lake Erie (the Underwater Segment) and underground in this Commonwealth from the coastal landfall location to the new Erie Converter Station (the Underground Segment), as well as approximately 2,082 feet (635 meters) of underground 345-kilovolt, alternating current (AC) cable between the proposed Erie Converter Station and the nearby existing Penelec Erie West Substation.
Both substations are west of Elk Creek in Springfield Township.
The Erie Converter Station will include equipment to change the AC of the existing aboveground transmission network to the direct current transmitted by the proposed Project, and vice versa.
The HVDC transmission cables would transition from the landfall location into Lake Erie by borings through bedrock installed by horizontal directional drilling methods.
Approximately 35.4 miles (57.0 km) of the Project transmission line route is underwater within Lake Erie, and 7.1 miles are underground (mostly within the existing rights-of-way of several roads) in Springfield, Girard and Conneaut Townships in Erie County.
Questions and requests for documents regarding this review should be directed to Jared Jacobini, Federal Consistency Coordinator, at (717) 705-4797 or by email to RA-Fed_Consistency@pa.gov.
Comments are due February 2.
Read the entire PA Bulletin notice for instructions on how to submit comments.
Visit the NextEra Energy Lake Erie Electric Transmission Line Project webpage for more information on the project.
For more information on environmental programs in Pennsylvania, visit DEP’s website. Submit Environmental Complaints; Click Here to sign up for DEP’s newsletter; sign up for DEP’s eNotice; Like DEP on Facebook, Follow DEP on Twitter and visit DEP’s YouTube Channel.
[Posted: January 16, 2026] PA Environment Digest
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