BY PAUL MITCHELL
North Country This Week

CANTON – The Town and Village of Canton each received $90,000 in intervenor funds made available from an EDF Renewables account totaling $240,000.

Both the town and village requested awards of $180,000.

Intervenor funds can be used to pay for expert witnesses, consultants, administrative costs such as document preparation and duplication, and legal fees. No intervenor funds can be used to pay for appeals of Site Board decision or other matters before a court.

"The Town Board voted to apply for intervenor funding for the EDF Renewables Rich Road Solar project to continue payments for legal counsel and professional engineering services,” stated Town Supervisor Mary Ann Ashley. “This is critical due to the fact that there has and there are going to be continued costs that our local taxpayers will not have to absorb through the town budget.”

EDF gave the Town a total of $60,000 in escrow funds back in March and August of 2022 to absorb the costs, Ashley noted.

“We will now utilize the intervenor funds as we continue due diligence. It is a layered and complicated system to get the intervenor funds. I was hoping that we would get the funds upfront instead of having to submit paperwork and wait for reimbursement. That's not the case but we will certainly make sure everything is in order,” said Ashley.

Mayor Michael Dalton said the funds could be used for legal fees or to hire experts for services such as survey work.

“All the funds will cover the needs of the village and town,” he said.

In the intervenor fund ruling by the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) dated May 25, it states “Based on the Town of Canton’s and the Village of Canton’s requests for local agency account funding, we conclude that both are eligible local agencies. Based on the requests, we also conclude that the Town’s and Village’s use of the fund will contribute to a complete record leading to an informed decision as to the appropriateness of the site and the facility, and that the Town and Village will use the funds to determine whether a proposed facility is designer to be sited, constructed and operated in compliance with applicable local laws and regulations.”

The ruling also notes the town requested the award to hire the legal firms of Buchan & Sutter, P.C., and Pease and Gustafson, LLP, and the engineering firm of Barton & Loguidice. The ruling allocates $52,500 to the engineering firm and $37,500 for legal fees.

On the village side, the request involves the legal firms of Buchan & Sutter, and Ducharme, Goldie and Adams, P.C. where $90,000 was allocated.

It was noted that as of May 25, no other municipalities or potential community intervenors had filed funding requests.

“The amount of $180,000 reserved for municipalities was divided equally between the Town of Canton and Village of Canton. The allocation of the Town’s award is based on its specific request that $52,500 be allocated to B&L with the remainder of the award for the law firms. The award is without prejudice to renew should the Town or the Village exhaust the funds awarded and funds remain available.”