July 22, 2011
Connecticut

Citizens group challenges siting council’s Colebrook North wind farm OK

By JANICE PODSADA, The Hartford Courant, www.courant.com 21 July 2011

FairwindCt, a Colebrook citizens group, filed a lawsuit Thursday at Superior Court in New Britain challenging the Connecticut Siting Council’s approval of the Colebrook North commercial wind farm project.

The council approved Colebrook North and its counterpart, Colebroook South, last month. Together the projects form a $24 million industrial wind farm whose six turbines have a generating capacity of up to 9.6 megawatts. FairwindCt challenged Colebrook South in court last week.

The lawsuit alleges that the siting council exceeded its authority, and “during the hearing prevented FairwindCt from presenting evidence on many subjects, [and] limited FairwindCt’s time for cross-examination,” said Nicholas J. Harding, the group’s attorney.

The suit also claims that BNE Energy Inc., the West Hartford company that won permits for the wind farm, submitted incomplete data related to bird, bat, water quality and other environmental studies.

The nine-member siting council has sole authority to approve sites for electricity-generating facilities ranging from nuclear power plants to trash-to-energy projects and wind farms.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/07/22/citizens-group-challenges-siting-councils-colebrook-north-wind-farm-ok/