Ellenburg Center, NY September 25, 2006 – Neighbors for the Preservation of the North Country, Inc., a citizens’ environmental advocacy group, made up of community residents from the towns of Clinton, Altona, and Ellenburg in Clinton County, New York, has commenced a legal proceeding against the towns of Altona, Clinton, Ellenburg, the Clinton County Industrial Development Agency, and Noble Environmental Power, challenging the failure of the towns, the IDA, and Noble to follow the requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act.
Noble plans to build 179 40-story-tall wind turbines in the three predominantly rural and wooded towns of Altona, Clinton and Ellenburg, in northern New York. The three towns and the IDA failed to give the “hard look” required by state law to the application by Noble Environmental Power, failed to consider alternatives, and failed to consider citizen comments made during the mandatory public comment period. The towns and the IDA failed to give an independent review to the Draft and Final Environmental Impact Statements and failed to identify the many errors and omissions in those Environmental Impact Statements. The approvals of the towns and IDA rubber-stamped Noble’s unsupported assertions and failed to protect the health and welfare of the towns’ citizens, the natural resources and landscape, the wildlife, and the rural quality of life presently enjoyed by the residents of these towns.
The legal proceeding asks the State Supreme Court to review and vacate the approvals granted by the three towns and the Clinton County Industrial Development Agency. It is presently scheduled to be before the court on October 6th.
Documents submitted in support of the litigation show that Noble’s Environmental Impact Statements and the towns’ findings did not satisfy the requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act:
The legal proceeding seeks to have the court annul the approvals given by the three town boards and the county IDA.
Holly Garceau, President of Neighbors for the Preservation of the North Country, Inc., says that her personal experience refutes the claims by the wind power company that industrial-sized wind turbines are innocuous. Earlier this year she visited the wind farm at Tug Hill, in Lewis County, New York. Within a short time of her arrival she felt pressure to her ears and soon had a migraine headache. Physician and ecologist Dr. Nina Pierpont, a resident of nearby Franklin County, has documented the phenomenon of Vibroacoustic Disease, caused by industrial wind turbines, and ignored by Noble, the three towns and the IDA.
If the towns of Altona, Clinton and Ellenburg, and the Clinton County Industrial Development Agency, had followed their mandates under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, this litigation would not be needed.
For further information, contact Holly Garceau, 518 594-7140.
Neighbors for the Preservation of the North Country, Inc.
P.O. Box 415
Ellenburg Depot, New York 12935