January 16, 2020
Kansas

First hearing in wind farm lawsuit sets deadline

By Phyllis Zorn, Staff writer | Marion County Record | Jan. 16, 2020 | marionrecord.com

A hearing was held last week in a lawsuit filed against county commissioners over conditional use permits granted to a wind farm company working to build turbines in the southern portion of the county.

At that hearing, district judge Steven Hornbaker set a deadline for all sides of the lawsuit to provide information requested by the others and set April 7 for a second hearing.

Although Randy Eitzen and 70 other plaintiffs filed the lawsuit Aug. 14 against Marion County commissioners, plaintiffs Patty Schale, Andrew Methvin, Laurie Methvin, Jeffrey Methvin, Rebecca Koehn-Kealy, David Keely, and Amy Stutzman withdrew from the lawsuit Sept. 24.

Expedition Wind, the company developing the wind farm, filed court documents Sept. 23 asking to intervene in the case, citing financial and property interests in the outcome of the case.

Expedition Wind was given permission to intervene Oct. 16.

Two additional lawyers entered appearances on Eitzen’s behalf Nov. 1.

No motion to dismiss the lawsuit has been filed by lawyers for the county commissioners or Expedition Wind, although Eitzen told another publication that the judge will decide whether the case will be dismissed during the April 7 hearing.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/01/16/first-hearing-in-wind-farm-lawsuit-sets-deadline/