The Cambria town board has decided to appeal “one more time” in an attempt to stop construction of the Bear Ridge Solar Project, which has been granted a siting permit by New York State.
Carmen A. Vacco of Lippes Mathius LLP will represent the town in the appeal to the state Court of Appeals.
The legal action, approved by a unanimous vote of the board, follows the state Appellate Division-Fourth Judicial Department’s recent denial of the town’s appeal of the state Office of Renewable Energy Siting’s decision to deny Cambria “party status” and address issues raised by the town prior to ORES’s grant of a siting permit to Cypress Creek Renewables LLC.
Town supervisor Jon MacSwan said the decision by the Court of Appeals will be quick and decisive; the town will either secure party status, giving it the means to make legal arguments protecting aspects of its local solar law, or not.
ORES previously brushed aside the local law, citing the state Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act and goals to bring down fossil fuel emissions statewide. The state Appellate Division upheld ORES’s determination on June 14, when it dismissed the town’s appeal.
The town is making one last appeal in light of the amount of money it has already invested in fighting ORES and Cypress Creek Renewables, according to MacSwan.
MacSwan said he did not know the exact tab to date. The Union-Sun & Journal previously reported that, according to town records, as of Jan. 1, the town had paid approximately $99,000 in legal and engineering fees to Lippes Mathias LLP and its engineering firm, Wendel. About $68,500 of that total was covered with intervenor funds granted by ORES.
The Bear Ridge Solar Project is a proposed 88-megawatt utility spread over 900 acres in Cambria and neighboring Pendleton.
Keith Silliman, Cypress Creek Renewables’ director of compliance, said there are “no changes” in the Bear Ridge Solar plan and work on compliance plans continues ahead of utility construction.