Massachusetts residents sue Cape Cod town over nature of business in wind farm project

A proposed wind farm in the Nantucket Sound that would feature miles of transmission cables on the ocean floor and under the streets of a Barnstable village is at the center of a freshly filed lawsuit.

Nine residents in Centerville, the village where the project is slated to run through, have filed an open meeting complaint against the Barnstable Town Council for reaffirming an agreement pivotal to construction in executive session.

The civil suit, filed in Barnstable Superior Court on Thursday, is requesting the votes taken in executive session, allegedly on April 4 and June 13, to be nullified and set aside.

Specifically, the Town Council’s reaffirmation of a so-called host community agreement with developer Avangrid guarantees additional financial and supportive benefits to the community and puts the construction of the New England Wind 1 project a step closer to fruition.

Town attorney Karen Nober, during a June 27 meeting, revealed that councilors gave Avangrid the go-ahead on the endeavor two weeks earlier in executive session, a year after deteriorating economic conditions forced the company to terminate its contracts that have since been revived.

Craigville Beach would be the landing spot for a transmission line from the 800-megawatt wind farm, with four miles of underground utility infrastructure running from the beach parking lot to a proposed six-acre substation on a residential road in Centerville.

The project, which has received key federal, state, and local approvals, is awaiting a decision on a power purchase agreement in a state procurement scheduled to close in August, according to Commonwealth Beacon.

Ed Kirk, an attorney also listed as a plaintiff in the suit, told the Herald on Saturday that he and fellow neighbors are arguing that the discussion and votes on a side deal complementing the host community agreement should have been conducted in regular session.

Barnstable residents slammed the Town Council on Thursday for proceeding with the agreement, which will provide the popular summer beach destination $16 million within 60 days of the project’s financial close, a revision of an original payment schedule over 20 years.

Residents also highlighted fears that the Vineyard Wind 1 blade failure debacle on Nantucket could also happen in their town if mitigation strategies are not appropriately implemented.

“It puts an added spotlight on the importance of having all aspects discussed before the Town Council goes ahead and approves something like this,” Kirk told the Herald. “We just think that has to be done in an open session so all of those considerations go into this decision and the public should have the right to weigh in.”

Councilor John Crow, an opponent of the project, raised concerns about the process of approving the reaffirmed host community agreement which also provides Barnstable $5.5 million for post-construction streetscaping and $2.4 million to defray sewer construction costs.

Those concerns included the “urgency to vote on the spot” and how the councilor who represents Centerville was not in attendance, Crow said.

“I’m not sure everyone felt that the councilors were properly prepared in advance of being asked to vote,” he said.

The council was advised that attorney-client privilege rules limit what it can share about the “substance of the discussion,” Nober said. Councilors evaluated available legal options for seeking project route changes, mitigation measures, environmental impact reductions, and compensation, she said.

“Each councilor ultimately weighed the legal advice regarding potential impacts of the project, the proposed benefits of the community host agreement and side agreement,” Nober said, “and the potential risks and costs associated with repudiating the host community agreement.”

“Based on their consideration of those factors,” she added, “each councilor reached a decision and voted accordingly.”

Speaking to the Herald on Friday, state Rep. Steven Xiarhos, R-Barnstable, said he was unaware of the lawsuit.

Xiarhos highlighted how the proposal at Craigville Beach also coincides with a project connected to Vineyard Wind 1 bringing 800 megawatts of electricity ashore at nearby Covell Beach. Vineyard Wind 1 is the same wind farm off Nantucket where a turbine blade failure has left the island a debris mess.

Avangrid also has its eyes on developing a 1,200-megawatt wind farm that would deliver power through transmission lines at Dowses Beach in Osterville, another Barnstable village. That project would clear out 25 acres of woodland, Xiarhos said.

Barnstable resident Heather Swanson told councilors she and others in town feel the council is lying to them and their concerns are not being heard.

“The destruction of a historic main street, clear-cutting of wooded areas in residential zones for massive substations, the overall aesthetic destruction of Centerville; that’s going to be your legacy,” she said.

Originally Published: July 20, 2024 at 5:50 p.m.