By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
LITTLE VALLEY — Cattaraugus County is taking the New York State Board of Electric Generation Siting and the Environment to court over its decision on a road use agreement between the county and Alle-Catt Wind Energy.
The state Appellate Division, Fourth Department will hear oral arguments from attorneys representing Cattaraugus County and the wind farm developer in Rochester during a 10-day term that begins on Oct. 15. The county has sought a hearing as soon as June 10.
The Siting Board found in November that Cattaraugus County “acted unreasonably and caused unreasonable delay in executing a road use agreement” with Alle-Catt Wind Farm.
The Siting Board subsequently withdrew the county’s authority to exercise control over its highways with respect to the construction, operation and maintenance of the Alle-Catt project.
The county’s outside attorney on Alle-Catt matters, Benjamin Wisniewski of Wisniewski Law, Webster, filed for a rehearing of the matter, but that was rejected by the Siting Commission on March 26.
On April 23, Wisniewski filed a petition with the Appellate Division’s Fourth Department on behalf of the county to annul and vacate the Siting Board’s decision eliminating the requirement for a road use agreement with the county before construction begins on the Alle-Catt Wind Farm.
The proposed wind farm by alternative energy giant Invenergy would stretch across five towns in three counties: Freedom and Farmersville in northern Cattaraugus County, Rushford and Centerville in Allegany County and Arcade in Wyoming County.
Alle-Catt has been granted permission to build 84 turbines that rise about 600 feet into the air to generate 340 megawatts of electricity that would power 120,000 homes. The developer has also received permission to build a transmission line to deliver the power into the grid.
The county’s petition to the appellate court also states the Siting Board “acted without jurisdiction” in issuing the order allowing Alle-Catt to proceed without a road use agreement.
The petition also asks the appellate court to declare the Siting Board “lack’s jurisdiction” in the road use agreement that Alle-Catt was negotiating with county officials — including the county’s interests in county roads and rights of way.
In addition, the county seeks a declaration from the court “that Alle-Catt must demonstrate it has obtained the (county’s) consent to use county property prior to any commencement of construction activities that would use county property.”
The county is also seeking attorneys’ costs and fees from the appeal.
In response to the county’s petition, the Fourth Judicial Department requested the county to file its brief on the matter of the challenge to the Siting Board’s road use agreement decision by June 20, and for Alle-Catt to respond with its brief on July 20.
In its petition for a rehearing of the Siting Board’s decision, county officials said it should be reversed because it was “arbitrary and capricious, not based on evidence in the record, was internally contradictory, impermissibly vague and fails to cite any evidence of unreasonableness made by the county.”
The county’s response accused Alle-Catt Wind Energy of negotiating in bad faith in order to get the Siting Board to make the decision it did to withdraw the county’s authority “to exercise control over its roads and highways with respect to the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Alle-Catt Wind Energy project.”
Alle-Catt has informed the Siting Board of its intention to begin tree-clearing activities across the footprint of the wind project as early as Nov. 1.
It has also notified the Siting Board that “as early as April 2024, ACWE will begin full construction” on sections of the 20,000-acre footprint over the five counties.
