A mockery of 'due dilligence'

According to Invenergy, and Orangeville Town Attorney Dave DiMatteo, Invenergy’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) was signed by the lead agency (the Orangeville Town Board) on July 6, 2011, at 6:40 p.m. We were ushered out of the Orangeville Town Hall following the meeting at 7 p.m. and informed by DiMatteo that this was Day No. 1 of the review period.

Mr. DiMatteo said the FEIS would be at the Town Hall during business hours, in the Attica and Warsaw libraries on July 7, 2011, and posted online on July 8, 2011. With Day No. 1 already behind us, we immediately began searching to get a hold of the FEIS, so we could read this 2,000-plus page document, and make comments. The Town Hall is only open Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings, giving citizens a few measly hours to access the document — if they can make it during those times. Both library copies have sections stating “this section is available at the town hall.” It just so happens that the Town Hall is closed most of the week.

The Warsaw Library gave us a copy of the sign-in time of the FEIS as July 8, 2011, by Town Supervisor Susan May. The Attica Library got their copy on July 11, 2011, as they are closed on Fridays. The online version was partially posted on July 8, 2011, and changed two more times that same day.

So according to DiMatteo, the 10-day comment period has gone by, but as of today — July 18, 2011 — the FEIS is still not completely posted. We believe that any person in their right mind will agree that the comment period can not begin until the FEIS is complete, and posted as such.

Obviously, the citizens of Orangeville who wish to comment on Invenergy’s FEIS have in no way been given ample time or opportunity to read this massive, technical document that is still not posted completely.

It is vividly clear that the Orangeville Town Board — “public servants” who have made a mockery of “due diligence,” aided and abetted by DiMatteo — are nothing less than Invenergy’s accomplices in this crime against the citizens of Orangeville.

All law-abiding New York State citizens should be as disgusted as we are in the self-serving arrogance being displayed by Orangeville board members seeking to profit at their neighbors’ expense.

Cathi Orr

Orangeville