Residents file third Beacon Island lawsuit
ALBANY — A group of Glenmont residents that claims approvals for a proposed $600 million wind turbine tower factory on the Hudson River were done without adequate public input and review has filed a third lawsuit against the town of Bethlehem and Port of Albany seeking to block the project.
The legal fight focuses on Beacon Island, an 81-acre former landfill owned by the port in Bethlehem that sits along the Hudson River, just south of the port’s operations in the city of Albany.
Since last summer, a group of Glenmont residents who live near the site have been waging a legal battle to try and reverse planning and zoning approvals that paved the way for preconstruction site work at the site off River Road.
The group, led by attorney Chris Dempf, alleged in its original lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court in Albany that the town did not properly notify residents living around the Beacon Island site before the town planning and zoning boards began considering the project, which is expected to employ 500 people and is supported by Gov. Kathy Hochul and other powerful political leaders, including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer.
The new lawsuit, which was filed earlier this month, is what is known as an Article 78 proceeding that seeks to have a judge reverse the town of Bethlehem’s approvals of the project.
It alleges that the town and other government agencies involved in issuing permits did not properly coordinate how to deal with 2 million tons of coal fly ash located at the site.
Coal ash, a byproduct of coal power plants, is considered toxic although it is often recycled into construction and road paving materials. The site is located near a coal power plant that dumped its coal ash on the site decades ago.
The suit notes that Beacon Island sits near wells that supply water to the residents of Bethlehem and the town of New Scotland and alleges the coal ash could contaminate the wells.
The suit also claims that a port contractor is using an adjacent 31-acre site for staging that was never included in project approval documents.
Patrick Jordan, general counsel for the Port of Albany, said the 31-acre site is not being used
by the port itself and therefore was not subject to Planning
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Board approval.
“This is actually the third Article 78 filed,” Jordan said. “Petitioners are free to file as many petitions as they would like, but the port believes that they are duplicative.”
A breakaway group of the Glenmont residents also filed another Article 78 lawsuit against the town and others, alleging the town and other government agencies failed to follow the state environmental review process in granting approvals and permits.
Jordan added that the port did “extensive studies of all identified potential environmental impacts concerning and relating to coal ash, drinking water and health impacts.”
Dempf did not respond to a request for comment on the latest lawsuit.
Attorney Mark Sweeney, who is representing the town of Bethlehem in the lawsuits, said the town was only served the new lawsuit on Wednesday.
“We are reviewing the petition and we will be responding to the allegations in our responsive papers. The Town stands behind the actions of the (planning and zoning boards),” Sweeney said. “We will not be commenting otherwise.”
The project is vital to New York state’s plans to develop massive offshore wind farms off the coast of Long Island in partnership with private energy companies in order to boost the amount of renewable, noncarbon electricity used by the state’s electrical grid.
The Hochul administration is seeking to meet the rigid standards of the state’s new climate change law, which requires all electricity used in the state to be free of carbon emissions by 2040.