July 18, 2012
New Jersey

Superior Court issues injunction to block turbine delivery

By KEITH HEUMILLER | Independent | ind.gmnews.com

The planned delivery of 700 tons of wind turbine components through the Bayshore area next week has been put on hold.

On Wednesday, July 18, Judge Mary Catherine Cuff of the New Jersey State Superior Court granted the Borough of Union Beach an injunction ordering the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority (BRSA) to refrain from shipping and assembling a 386-foot-tall industrial wind turbine into the borough until a decision could be reached in a still-pending appeals case.

The injunction, requested by Stuart Lieberman, of Lieberman & Blecher in Princeton, on behalf of the Union Beach Planning Board on July 6, was granted just five days before transport of the turbine components was scheduled to begin.

“We are very, very pleased with this decision,” said Lieberman, “but we’re keeping everything in perspective. We still don’t have a final decision on the appeal yet. What this injunction says is, until we get a decision on the appeal they can’t move that tower.”

Robert Fischer, executive director of the BRSA, said Wednesday that the authority would abide by the judge’s decision and wait for further instructions.

“We have halted all transport and construction of the turbine,” he said, “and hopefully a decision will be reached in the appeal soon. It’s unfortunate … we’re talking well over a quarter of a million dollars in delay costs so far.”

The BRSA, he said, would continue to store and maintain the parts at the Newark warehouse and will keep all of the security bonds required for the delivery in escrow until the appellate court hands down a decision.

The transport, which was scheduled to begin on July 23, would have lasted through Aug. 1 and entailed convoys of wide-load delivery trucks and police escorts traveling through areas of Marlboro, Matawan, Aberdeen and Hazlet on their way to BRSA headquarters in Union Beach.

The appeal, which along with the injunction request was filed on behalf of the Union Beach Planning Board by Lieberman, centers on a 10,000-square-foot parcel of land adjacent to BRSA headquarters on Oak Street, where the authority plans on constructing the 1.5-megawatt industrial turbine.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/07/18/superior-court-issues-injunction-to-block-turbine-delivery/