GROUPS SUE COUNTY TO BLOCK COMPRESSOR STATION
Today the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League announced that it, together with its local chapter Concern for the New Generation, has filed a lawsuit opposing the recently granted special use permit for a natural gas compressor station in Buckingham County. The legal action was filed in Circuit Court for Buckingham County on March 8. The League and CNG seek to reverse the decision by the Board of Supervisors to permit the industrial facility in the residential and agricultural Union Hill community. Attorney James Ghee of Farmville represents the organizations.
The suit requests that the Court “suspend and set aside Permit 16-SUP236; find that the challenged action was not in accord with the law; and that the Permit be remanded to the Board of Supervisors with instructions to comply with relevant statutory and regulatory requirements.”
The issues raised in the lawsuit center on the threats to public health from excessive noise and the disproportionate impact the compressor station would have on a well-established historic African American community. Lou Zeller, the League’s Executive Director, said, “Zoning laws do not allow a county to brush aside these concerns. This was the Board of Supervisors biggest mistake.” Zeller added, “We will show that under the law a compressor station cannot be placed in an agricultural community.” The suit shows that for five weeks a year the plant would be subject to no noise limits at all.
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