A State Supreme Court judge this week dismissed a lawsuit brought by Brookhaven Town seeking the removal of 211 steel utility poles installed last year along County Route 51 from Riverside to Eastport.
The suit, commenced July 21, more than a month after the utility work was completed and the line repowered, was dismissed as moot.
“The Court finds that the reconductoring of the existing 69 kilovolt overhead transmission circuit, including utility pole replacements, was not done in bad faith, was substantially completed on June 9, 2017 and cannot be undone without undue hardship,” wrote Justice Joseph Santorelli in the April 24 decision.
“The Court does not find any of the exceptions to the mootness doctrine present in this action.”
LIPA and PSEG argued that the town was informed of the project in advance and failed to commence an action until three months after the project was started — on April 10, 2017 — and was already substantially complete. The newly installed line was activated on June 9.
The work involved upgrading 7.3 miles of overhead “transmission line” running between the Riverhead and Eastport substations, as well as the installation of 211 steel utility poles to replace the 195 wood poles that were along the route, according to the court.
The Town of Southampton last August joined Brookhaven’s lawsuit as an intervenor.
The suit sought to annul the determination of the Long Island Power Authority and PSEG Long Island. The town argued that the LIPA, in conjunction with PSEG-LI, did not provide “written or any truthful or appropriate notice” of its determination under the State Environmental Quality Review Act that the project would not have a significant adverse impact on the environment and would not require the preparation of a draft environmental impact statement.
The power line project stretched through “areas containing residential farmland, open space, pine barrens core, and historic district properties” according to Brookhaven’s petition.
LIPA/PSEG-LI argued that the project consisted of replacing 195 wooden poles installed in 1967 with 211 steel poles that are no more than 10 feet taller than the poles they replaced.
“The existing line was close to the end of its useful life and portions had failed during Hurricane Sandy and in more recent wind storms,” project manager William Softye said in an affidavit submitted to the court.
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