| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Connecticut’s first commercial wind project wins legal battle
Credit: CT's first commercial wind project wins legal battle | Brad Kane | Hartford Business Journal | September 16, 2014 | www.hartfordbusiness.com ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
West Hartford renewable energy developer BNE Energy is cleared to build three wind turbines in Colebrook, after a Connecticut Supreme Court ruling on Monday ended a three-year legal battle.
This will be the first commercial wind project in Connecticut.
BNE had proposed six turbines for two projects in Colebrook and another two turbines in nearby Prospect. The Connecticut Siting Council, which approves electricity generating facilities, denied the Prospect proposal but upheld the Colebrook proposal.
A group of Northwest Connecticut residents, who had formed a turbine opposition group called FairWindCT, then filed a lawsuit against the Siting Council’s approval of the Colebrook turbines, saying the council made several errors in its approval of the petition.
The trial court dismissed FairWindCT’s lawsuit, and on Monday, the Connecticut Supreme Court upheld that dismissal, saying all of the errors made by the Siting Council were harmless.
FairWindCT does not plan on further appealing the ruling, as it would next have to go to the U.S. Supreme Court, said Nicholas Harding, attorney with Hartford law firm Reid & Riege, who represented FairWindCT.
“The reality of the decision is that of the six turbines BNE Energy wants to build, they can build three of them,” Harding said.
The other three turbines in Colebrook still are waiting for approval from the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers.
“Right now we are focusing on Colebrook south,” said Paul Corey, BNE chairman. “Once we are done with south, then we will turn our attention to the north project.”
BNE will propose some mitigation measures to satisfy surrounding land owners and get the Army Corps. approval, Corey said. Mitigation measures could include items like planting trees.
The vocal opposition that surrounded BNE’s proposed turbines led the Connecticut legislature in 2011 to ban the development of new wind turbines until the Siting Council wrote specific regulations on the technology. Since the Colebrook turbines were approved before legislature approved the ban, the project could have proceeded, if not for its legal battle.
The ban on new wind turbines was lifted earlier this year after the legislature approved the Siting Council’s proposed regulations.
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 Funding |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=66723 ]
