LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME




[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]

Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

Get weekly updates
RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Stripe

Donate via Paypal

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Maine Supreme Court invalidates permit for Saddleback Ridge Wind Project 

Credit:  United States: Maine Supreme Court invalidates permit for Saddleback Ridge Wind Project | Article by Thomas R. Doyle , Philip F.W. Ahrens and John M. Formella | 31 March 2013 | www.mondaq.com ~~

On March 5, 2013, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court (the “Law Court”) issued a decision in which it invalidated Saddleback Ridge Wind, LLC’s (“Saddleback”) permit to construct the Saddleback Ridge Wind Project (the “Project”). The decision raises concerns for any applicant for a Maine environmental or land use permit that standards may change in the middle, or even at the end, of its licensing process.

Saddleback filed its applications with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (the “Department”) on October 26, 2010, seeking a permit to construct the Project in the towns of Carthage, Canton, and Dixfield. The applications described the development as a “12-turbine, 33 megawatt wind energy project and associated transmission line and substation.” Included in the applications were a noise impact study and a visual impact assessment. Opposing the applications were Friends of Maine’s Mountains, Friends of Saddleback Mountain, and several individuals (collectively, “Friends”).

After a public meeting and input from additional individuals and organizations both for and against the Project, the Department issued a permit to construct the Project on October 6, 2011. Friends then appealed the Department’s decision to the Board of Environmental Protection (the “Board”). On February 18, 2012, the Board issued an order affirming the Department’s approval of the permit application, and specifically affirmed the Department’s decision to apply the nighttime hourly sound level limit in effect at the time of the order, which was 45 dBA. In appealing the Board’s decision to the Law Court, Friends advanced three constitutional claims, and also argued that the Board abused its discretion when determining which nighttime sound level limit to apply to the applications. While it had little trouble rejecting Friends’ constitutional claims, the Law Court proceeded to scrutinize the Board’s application of the 45 dBA nighttime hourly sound limit.

In the end, the Law Court’s examination of the procedural history before the Board proved significant. On September 15, 2011, while Saddleback’s applications were pending before the Department, the Board provisionally adopted a noise rule amendment that, among other changes, lowered the nighttime hourly sound limit for wind energy projects from 45 dBA to 42 dBA. The rule amendment did not become effective, however, until June 10, 2012, when it received the required legislative approval. Five months after the Board’s provisional adoption of the rule amendment, the Board’s February 18, 2012 appeal decision affirmed the Department’s initial decision to apply the 45 dBA limit to the Saddleback Ridge Wind Project. This proved critical to the Law Court because the Project’s applications, while presenting evidence that the Project complied with the 45 dBA limit, presented no evidence that the Project would comply with the 42 dBA limit, likely because neither the DEP nor the applicant thought the provisionally adopted noise limit was ever intended to apply to an application already pending on the date of the rule change. The Law Court did not address the fact that the Board had applied the nighttime limit required by Department rule at the time of its decision.

Because the Board applied the 45 dBA nighttime sound limit to Saddleback’s application five months after the Board had provisionally approved a rule change that lowered that same limit to 42 dBA, the Law Court held that the Board “failed to meet its statutory obligation to protect the health and welfare of the Project’s neighbors.” Therefore, the Law Court concluded that the Board had abused its discretion in affirming the Department’s application of the 45 dBA limit, and that the permit granting approval for the Saddleback Ridge Wind Project is thus invalid. The Law Court directed the Board and the Department to conduct further review of Saddleback’s applications using the 42 dBA nighttime sound level limit.

While the Law Court did not specify whether the 42 dBA limit should be retroactively applied to projects approved before the rule amendment’s adoption, any project approved and constructed prior to the amendment’s adoption likely has a strong argument against retroactive application of the 42 dBA limit.

Source:  United States: Maine Supreme Court invalidates permit for Saddleback Ridge Wind Project | Article by Thomas R. Doyle , Philip F.W. Ahrens and John M. Formella | 31 March 2013 | www.mondaq.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Contributions
   Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)
Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI M TG TS G Share

Tag: Victories


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook Wind Watch on Linked In

Wind Watch on Mastodon Wind Watch on Truth Social

Wind Watch on Gab Wind Watch on Bluesky