ME Supreme Court Backs Passadumkeag Windpark LLC

Mary Costigan and Kat Joyce

The ME Supreme Judicial Court issued a decision this week that upholds a decision by the Board of Environmental Protection that approved a wind energy project proposed by Passadumkeag Windpark, LLC.

In Passadumkeag Mountain Friends et al. v. Board of Environmental Protection et al., the court upheld the authority of the Board of Environmental Protection to conduct independent fact-finding when considering appeals of permitting decisions by the commissioner. The board’s approval decision had been issued after a careful, independent review of the record evidence, and was notable in that the board reversed the commissioner’s initial decision to deny the permits. Through this ruling, the court reaffirmed its long standing precedent that defers to the board as the final agency decision-maker on behalf of the Department of Environmental Protection. Passadumkeag Windpark, which was represented by attorneys Katherine Joyce and Mary Costigan throughout the permit application process and in the appeals, can now move forward with this important energy project that will bring more clean energy to the state of ME.

Katherine Joyce and Mary Costigan are both members of Bernstein Shur’s Energy and Environmental Practice Group. For more information, contact Katherine at kjoyce@bernsteinshur.com or 207 228-7297 or Mary at mcostigan@bernsteinshur.com or 207 228-7147.