Wind Farm Opponents Seek Stay of Construction

Opponents of the offshore South Fork Wind farm that recently received federal approval are asking a judge to block the land-based portion of construction from starting on the project under arguments that can be heard in a pending related lawsuit.

Citizens for the Preservation of Wainscott on December 20 filed a motion in the Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court to block the construction until the court has an opportunity to rule on the group’s appeal of the state Public Service Commission’s decision allowing the cable to come ashore in Wainscott.

“There are better route alternatives — consistent with how every other wind farm in America has proposed to land its cable,” said Michael McKeon, a group spokesman. “We continue to believe a fair hearing on the merits will result in a better project that we can all support.”

The wind farm’s developers, Ørsted & Eversource, said construction could start as soon as January, now that the project — billed as the first of its kind in the state — cleared its final regulatory hurdle. The plan includes 12 turbines some 30 miles off Montauk’s coast.

The Wainscott group, which previously tried to incorporate as a village in a bid to fight the cable, argues that bringing the cable ashore at an alternative location, Hither Hills, would avoid disrupting residential neighborhoods before it is linked up to a station in East Hampton. The wind farm developers did not respond to a request for comment.