Mirant appeals Toronto decision

New owners likely to inherit lawsuit

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — The lawyer representing Mirant has filed an appeal of a decision regarding access to the Toronto Reservoir through land owned by Woodstone Lake Estates.

The decision barred two Sullivan County residents, Mary Ann Burke and Dr. Herman Goldfarb, from intervening in a lawsuit brought by Smallwood resident Bob Barrett against Woodstone.

On February 26, Judge Robert Sackett issued the 10-page ruling saying essentially that the public had no right to enter the Woodstone lands and therefore Goldfarb and Burke had no right to join the suit and intervene. However, Doug Nash, the lawyer for Mirant, the company that owns the reservoir, asked in a letter to the judge if the decision applied just to the intervention, or if it would be legally binding as the rest of the case moved forward. The response from Sackett’s office indicated the ruling would be binding, which then led Nash to appeal.

Goldfarb and Burke are also appealing the decision.

However, even if the appeal fails and Sackett’s ruling is upheld, that will probably not mean an end to the case, because the ruling also said that Mirant can either negotiate with Woodstone to gain access to the reservoir for members of the public, or it can take the land by eminent domain.

As part of its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license to operate hydroelectric plants in Sullivan County, Mirant must provide public access to members of the public to a part of the reservoir that can only be reached by crossing Woodstone land. Mirant is currently in negotiations to sell the Toronto Reservoir and the three other reservoirs it owns in Sullivan County to Alliance Energy.

According to Jane Rubinstein, a spokesperson for Alliance, Mirant is responsible for seeking a solution to the lawsuit as the negotiations go forward. According to the contract, the sale of the reservoirs is supposed to be complete by September 1.

Rubinstein could not predict when the sale would actually be finalized, but she said that when it becomes the new owner, Alliance intends to provide public access to the reservoir because that is a stipulation of the FERC license, and Alliance intends to continue to operate the hydroelectric power plants.