The Cokeburg Dam was developed over 100 years ago and residents of the area have used it as a water source and recreation area. According to Cokeburg Borough Council President Holly Detts-Dranzo, the community has been trying to satisfy state Department of Environmental Protection Agency requirements to repair the dam since it was deemed a high hazard dam back in 1981. Detts-Dranzo and Cokeburg Volunteer Fire Company Chief Dave Lambert testified before the Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee about the frustrations that the borough has with the DEP on their never-ending bureaucracy on never approving any measures that they themselves require for repair. Detts-Dranzo told of hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on designs demanded by the DEP only to have them turn around and change the plans. She said that she had to return a DCED grant because the time limit expired because of DEP delays. Lambert told of how the water in the dam is used by the fire department to fight fires. He pointed to the 2015 fire at the Century Inn where water from the dam was transported to the fire and was used to extinguish the fire. Representative Tim O’Neal called the testimony “the most egregious example of the failure of government oversight that he has ever seen.” Representative Bud Cook sponsored the meeting and is calling for Governor Shapiro to work with the DEP to reign in the constant delays that projects like this experience, not only in Cokeburg, but throughout Pennsylvania.