Lippes said he is almost finished with discovery in the lawsuit and the two sides are expected to exchange the names of their expert witnesses soon afterward. ...The lawsuit cites constant noise and vibration from the turbines “significantly diminishes the value of plaintiff’s property and homes.” The 50 dBA noise limit “is violated on a regular basis,” the suit alleges.

Legal New York

After it was revealed that Apex Clean Energy omitted the finding of a bald eagle nest on Galloo Island in spring 2017 from the application for its 109-megawatt project, administrative law judges allowed parties involved in the review to withdraw from the stipulations pertaining to studies of terrestrial ecology, wetlands and other related matters. ...Both the state departments of Public Service and Environmental Conservation said they have withdrawn from the particular stipulations due to Apex’s decision not to divulge the knowledge of the nest and the lack of studies to address it.

Impact on Birds Legal New York

The Massachusetts Appeals Court rejected a motion to intervene in the court order to shut down Falmouth’s two wind turbines as a nuisance, upholding Barnstable Superior Court Judge Cornelius J. Moriarty II’s decision. “We see no reason to disturb the judge’s ruling,” Associate Justices Peter J. Rubin, Gabrielle R. Wolohojian, and Amy L. Blake wrote in their decision, noting the history of the litigation.

Legal Massachusetts

“I’m thrilled,” Kerns said. “The constant whoosh, whoosh, whoosh sound they make is nonstop … and the shadow effect was like I was back in the ’70s with the disco strobe light. “I couldn’t sit outside in the evening,” she added. “Until you live near one, you don’t know what it’s like.”

Impact on People Legal Iowa

Barnstable Superior Court Judge Cornelius Moriarty had deemed the turbines at the town's wastewater treatment facility a nuisance and ordered that they be permanently shut down in June 2017. The selectmen voted not to appeal the decision. ...The Green Center then appealed Moriarty’s ruling to the Massachusetts Appeals Court but again failed to gain any traction, with a panel of three judges upholding Moriarty’s decision.

Legal Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld a lower court's decision to deny intervention involving action between the town of Falmouth and the Falmouth zoning board of appeals in which judgment had already entered. The judgment declared that two wind turbines operated by the town were a nuisance and ordered that their operation cease and desist. The proposed interveners claimed that they were entitled to intervention as of right because they had compelling interests that were no longer being adequately represented by the town. The lower court ruled, and the appellate court affirmed that the motion be denied since the interveners could not likely establish standing, and that the motion was untimely. A portion of the 10-page order is provided below. The full order can be accessed by clicking the links on this page.

Legal Massachusetts

In truth, it is hard to imagine a worse factual record, a worse example of wasting ratepayer money and imposing ratepayer risk.  For $300 million or more the company will receive only 12 megawatts of power and with the assumed operational efficiency of the turbines that will work out to 78 cents per kilowatt hour.  Then a hurricane may wreck it.

Legal Offshore Wind Virginia

Testimony concluded Tuesday night in the battle for Atlantic Wind to gain a permit to erect 28 wind turbines on land owned by Bethlehem Water Authority in Penn Forest Township Written briefs are due to the zoning board by Dec. 7. The zoning hearing board will meet on Dec. 17 to deliberate and announce its decision in the matter.

Legal Pennsylvania

A deadline for a mitigation plan for a proposed wind farm near Hinton has been extended a third time.

Legal Safety Oklahoma

Holmes contends the hearing and vote was moot because the correct way to handle the request would have been through a rezoning application to the elected Board of Supervisors. “(The Board of Adjustment) have no power to grant a special exemption on land that is exempt from zoning,” he said. “They should have just gone home.”

Legal Iowa

“The application of the Atlantic Wind should be denied as filed as it does not comply with the not-to-exceed sound standard under the Penn Forest Zoning Ordinance; would establish a second principal use of the land in contravention of the (ordinance); and that no hardship was shown for a service building in the R-2 District." ...Schwab also wrote that the turbines would create a second, illegal use on the property. The ordinance states that a lot in the residential district can only have one principal use.

Legal Pennsylvania

Neighbors of a planned wind farm in southwestern Montana are suing to block the project. ...They allege the wind project will threaten wetlands, migratory birds, bald eagles, historic trails, businesses and the health of people living in the vicinity.

Legal Montana

A petition to suspend, adjourn or dismiss the Article 10 review of the Galloo Island Wind project has been filed with the state Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment. Cara and Anthony Dibnah, who in 2000 purchased the former U.S. Coast Guard lighthouse on the island, are seeking relief from the board because of an ongoing easement dispute with the owner of the largest part of the island, Galloo Island Corp.

Legal New York

Bauercamper found the wind companies in contempt of court earlier this year and ordered the turbines to cease energy production by July 2 and be removed at the turbine developers’ cost by Dec. 9. The turbines have stopped spinning.

Legal Iowa

The proximity of the men’s grant areas means their oysters, which total about 3,250,000, could be smothered by sand and silt that’s stirred up when Vineyard Wind lays the cable, the letter contends. Although Vineyard Wind officials have met with the shellfishermen multiple times and proposed solutions that include installing silt curtains while work is conducted, there’s no evidence those solutions will work, according to the letter.

Legal Offshore Wind Massachusetts

A resident filed an enforcement action request (June 2018) alleging Wind 2 violates Chapter 240 Section 3B of the Falmouth Zoning Bylaw (the local provision copied from M.G.L. c. 40A, s. 7).

Legal Zoning/Planning Massachusetts

In his response, Mr. Palmer said this regulation does not apply to Wind 2 because of when it was installed. The letter indicates Wind 2 was issued a permit and became operational in February 2012. “The building permit and the date of initial operation are both beyond the six year enforcement provision of G.L. c. 40A, s. 7 for structures erected in reliance upon a building permit,” Mr. Palmer wrote.

Legal Massachusetts

NextEra is building more than 160 turbines, and many neighbors say they are do it illegally. “The law is very clear,” said attorney Kim Spady, who represents some neighbors from Hinton.

Legal Safety Oklahoma

Pending litigation over the property tax obligations of Rock Falls Wind Project in Grant and Kay counties could set dramatic new precedents and fundamentally change the way wind-energy projects are incentivized in Oklahoma.  

Legal Taxes & Subsidies Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY - State leaders have formally notified Florida-based NextEra Energy that the company's recent construction of nearly two dozen wind turbines in Canadian County violates a new state law.

Legal Oklahoma