Ocotillo wind farm project is target of another lawsuit  

Credit:  By Erik Anderson | KPBS | www.kpbs.org 26 June 2012 ~~

SAN DIEGO — Pattern Energy wants to put up more than 100 wind turbines in a nine square mile area near Ocotillo Wells.

The wind driven engines would be scattered across a nine square mile patch of federal land where interstate eight comes out of the mountains and rolls into the Imperial Valley desert.

Attorney Bill Pate works for the group CARES, Community Advocates for Renewable Energy Stewardship. He filed the lawsuit which charges the federal government didn’t follow its own guidelines in allowing the wind farm project to move forward.

“This is a thriving critically sensitive area of the desert. And not to mention, there’s people who live right there,” said Pate.

More legal challenges may come from opponents later this week.

Federal officials are urging companies to develop renewable energy projects on public land as a way to stimulate the economy.

Pattern Energy hopes to win approval from local officials and have turbines in the project area generating electricity by the end of the year.