A wind development company has sued a second town board in an attempt to force through a large wind farm over the objections of local elected leaders.
Ecogen Wind LLC, which in early November brought suit against the town of Italy in Yates County, filed a similar action Monday against the neighboring town of Prattsburgh, Steuben County. The Buffalo-area company and a partner firm have been trying for years to locate a 33-turbine wind farm in the hilly towns.
Like the action against Italy, the new suit against Prattsburgh alleges that town officials have improperly thrown roadblocks in front of the wind farm to “thwart and delay the project.” Specifically, Ecogen’s petition claims that town officials raised questions this year about building and road permits, a benefits package and noise concerns. “These efforts to now delay the project were improper and in bad faith,” the company states in its petition.
The legal action, filed in state Supreme Court, expresses fears that anti-turbine town board members who will take office on Jan. 1 will block the project entirely.
If ever built, the farm would have 16 turbines in Prattsburgh and 17 in Italy, all of them 415 feet tall. The farm would have the capability of generating up to 76 megawatts of electricity.
The company’s lawyers will ask state Supreme Court Justice Thomas A. Stander, to whom the case has been assigned, to grant Ecogen the right to proceed with the Prattsburgh portion of the project “without further activities on its part,” or to order the Town Board to grant Ecogen all necessary permits.
The suit against the town of Italy, sparked by a 5-to-0 Town Board vote in October to kill the project there, is pending before state Supreme Court Justice Stephen K. Lindley.
SORR@DemocratandChronicle.com
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