Last week, several parties in the Civitas Institute Center for Law and Freedom (CLF)’s wind energy permitting lawsuit moved for summary judgment in the Office of Administrative Hearings. The Petitioners, represented by CLF, argue that the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) broke the law on April 29, 2015 when it informed Iberdrola Renewables that its Amazon Wind Farm East would not be subjected to the North Carolina’s legislatively-enacted wind permitting laws. Both NCDEQ and Weyerhaeuser Company, who intervened earlier this month, argue that NCDEQ’s April 29 letter is a correct interpretation of Section 2 of Session Law 2013-51, which is now codified as part of the North Carolina General Statutes. Pasquotank County, who was granted a limited right of intervention in the case, will later submit a written brief explaining its view on the correct reading of the Session Law.
After filing their respective motions, all four parties jointly moved the court to convert the planned April 12 contested case hearing into a hearing on summary judgment. The court has yet to rule on this motion.
CLF has until April 11 to file a brief in response to NCDEQ’s arguments, but a response to Weyerhaeuser’s arguments is due sooner on April 7.
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