WAWAYANDA, NY — An Orange County supreme court judge has ruled that CPV Valley, the company that wants to build a large natural gas power plant in Wawayanda, must address concerns raised in a lawsuit filed by attorney Michael Sussman. The company performed an environmental study in 2010, and was granted a permit by the Town of Wawayanda Planning Board in 2013.

The company was granted an amended permit this year, but the lawsuit charges that since the initial environmental review was done, many changes have taken place. For instance, the state has banned fracking over health concerns, and the plant operators anticipate using fracked gas to power the plant. Also, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has declared that an endangered bat exists on the property.

Sussman wrote in a Facebook post, “There have been other changes which need to be reviewed in a supplemental environmental impact statement, a course contemplated by NY State regulation. But, the sponsor and the town board have studiously, indeed vehemently refused to so proceed, claiming that they need not do a new study and face the new facts.”

CPV cancelled the amended permit and argued the matter was then moot because the company was moving ahead with the permit from 2013, but Judge Elaine Slobod ruled on August 3 that CPV must provide substantive answers to the claims raised by Sussman for residents near the project.