By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
The developer of the proposed Silver Maple solar project in Zeeland and Jamestown townships has pulled a lawsuit seeking to block the project out of the Ottawa County court system and moved it to federal court.
Lawyers representing project developer RWE and its various entities filed a notice of removal last Friday, moving the case from Ottawa County Circuit Court to the Grand Rapids-based U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
Zeeland Township filed suit on July 7 in Ottawa County against Silver Maple PV, LLC, RWE Americas Services, LLC and RWE Solar Development, LLC, challenging the constitutionality of Public Act 233, the state law that allows energy developers to bypass local communities and apply directly to the Michigan Public Service Commission for approval of utility-scale clean energy projects.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare PA 233 unconstitutional under Article 7, Section 29 of the Michigan constitution of 1963, saying the law “preempts local control over the regulation of wind, solar and energy storage facilities by infringing on certain rights that the Michigan Constitution reserves for local governments.”
Specifically, the township is arguing that Silver Maple needs franchise approval from the township before being allowed to use public roads, alleys or public places to transport wires, poles or other equipment needed to build the project.
RWE rejects the notion that the company needs franchise approval.
Lawyers for Silver Maple/RWE say the case should be heard in federal court because of diversity jurisdiction rules – Zeeland Township is a Michigan municipality while the project developers are incorporated in Delaware and RWE’s global headquarters are in Germany.
“None of the named Defendants, nor their members or sub-members, have principal places of business within the state of Michigan,” the Silver Maple/RWE legal team wrote in their notice.
“Because there is only a citizen of the state of Michigan (Zeeland Township) on one side of this dispute and foreign citizens or citizens of different states (Silver Maple/RWE) on the other, complete diversity exists.”
In addition, the amount of Silver Maple/RWE’s investment goes far above the $75,000 level needed for federal diversity cases, its lawyers argued.
“The privately-contracted land upon which the Project will be constructed is — alone — worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, to say nothing of the hundreds of thousands more that Defendants have committed to research, development, and certification of the Project,” the legal team wrote.
RWE filed an application for the Silver Maple project in April. The company has secured leases on 52 parcels totaling 1,914 acres of farmland, about 60 percent being in Zeeland Township. It plans to build the project on 1,127 acres of fenced-in property, according to its application document.
Township special legal counsel David Eberle spoke briefly about the removal of the lawsuit toward the end of Monday night’s special Township Board meeting.
“We are in discussions about whether we will seek to have the case remanded, or argue to have it remanded back to state court,” Eberle said.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney. No hearing dates have been set, Eberle said.
Zeeland Record
The developer of the proposed Silver Maple solar project in Zeeland and Jamestown townships has pulled a lawsuit seeking to block the project out of the Ottawa County court system and moved it to federal court.
Lawyers representing project developer RWE and its various entities filed a notice of removal last Friday, moving the case from Ottawa County Circuit Court to the Grand Rapids-based U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
Zeeland Township filed suit on July 7 in Ottawa County against Silver Maple PV, LLC, RWE Americas Services, LLC and RWE Solar Development, LLC, challenging the constitutionality of Public Act 233, the state law that allows energy developers to bypass local communities and apply directly to the Michigan Public Service Commission for approval of utility-scale clean energy projects.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare PA 233 unconstitutional under Article 7, Section 29 of the Michigan constitution of 1963, saying the law “preempts local control over the regulation of wind, solar and energy storage facilities by infringing on certain rights that the Michigan Constitution reserves for local governments.”
Specifically, the township is arguing that Silver Maple needs franchise approval from the township before being allowed to use public roads, alleys or public places to transport wires, poles or other equipment needed to build the project.
RWE rejects the notion that the company needs franchise approval.
Lawyers for Silver Maple/RWE say the case should be heard in federal court because of diversity jurisdiction rules – Zeeland Township is a Michigan municipality while the project developers are incorporated in Delaware and RWE’s global headquarters are in Germany.
“None of the named Defendants, nor their members or sub-members, have principal places of business within the state of Michigan,” the Silver Maple/RWE legal team wrote in their notice.
“Because there is only a citizen of the state of Michigan (Zeeland Township) on one side of this dispute and foreign citizens or citizens of different states (Silver Maple/RWE) on the other, complete diversity exists.”
In addition, the amount of Silver Maple/RWE’s investment goes far above the $75,000 level needed for federal diversity cases, its lawyers argued.
“The privately-contracted land upon which the Project will be constructed is — alone — worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, to say nothing of the hundreds of thousands more that Defendants have committed to research, development, and certification of the Project,” the legal team wrote.
RWE filed an application for the Silver Maple project in April. The company has secured leases on 52 parcels totaling 1,914 acres of farmland, about 60 percent being in Zeeland Township. It plans to build the project on 1,127 acres of fenced-in property, according to its application document.
Township special legal counsel David Eberle spoke briefly about the removal of the lawsuit toward the end of Monday night’s special Township Board meeting.
“We are in discussions about whether we will seek to have the case remanded, or argue to have it remanded back to state court,” Eberle said.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney. No hearing dates have been set, Eberle said.
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