Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against PSEG and LIPA By LIBFRE

Press Release: East Hampton, NY May 29, 2014 

Today, Long Island Businesses For Responsible Energy, Inc. (LIBFRE) filed a class action lawsuit against PSEGLI and LIPA in the State Supreme Court of New York.

LIBFRE’s legal counsel Irving Like, as former Special Counsel to Suffolk County, was active in preventing the opening of the Shoreham and Jamesport Power Plants, and was Chairman of the Law Committee of Agent Orange Law Firms representing Vietnam War Veterans in their $180 million settlement.

Professor Leon Friedman, Co-Counsel, and Joseph Kushner Special Professor of Civil Liberties Law at Hofstra University Law School, specializes in Civil Liberties Law and has written many books and articles on the subject.  He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the New York Civil Liberties Union. Friedman was the lawyer for Rubin “Hurricane” Carter on whom the Denzel Washington movie The Hurricane, was based. 

The litigation is a class action.  Hundreds of homes in close proximity to the overhead transmission lines are affected. The class members include the plaintiffs, as well as those owners whose ground water wells, and drinking water from Suffolk County’s sole source aquifer, may be adversely affected by the penta, as there is a danger of its infiltration into ground water.

LIPA’s SEQRA statement failed to disclose the adverse cumulative impact of the project on health, property values, and alternatives, and intentionally misrepresented them.

The lawsuit seeks monetary damages, punitive damages, and injunctive relief, including the undergrounding or rerouting of the transmission lines, and a fair allocation of the costs between the ratepayers and the stockholders of PSEG LI’s parent New Jersey holding company.

The four pronged complaint states that pentachlorophenol, a banned chemical in 26 countries, placed on the wooden utility poles is leaching dangerous toxins into the soil in front of residents’ homes, as well as emitting toxic gases into the environment. This leaching, as per an expert hydrogeologist’s report, states that the leaching pentachlorophenol is traveling downward and will contaminate East Hampton’s groundwater. Once it hits the groundwater, it will travel south towards Hook Pond and Georgica Pond and Town Pond. 

The second issue is the addition of 33kV high voltage power lines on 61’ poles to the already existing 13kV power lines. Less than 25’ from many residents’ homes on narrow streets, the residents are in fear of having electromagnetic fields so close to where their children and families spend at least 6-8 hours a day sleeping.

The new poles have damaged East Hampton’s beautiful trees and vegetation. Known for its historic and scenic beauty, experts have already noted the damage done to East Hampton’s landscape, which has captured Artists’ imaginations for over a century.

Lastly the new high voltage utility poles leaching pentachlorophenol into East Hampton’s soil and groundwater, have devalued the property of all the residents along the 6.2 mile project.

Funds to help pay for legal costs and expert witnesses are welcome and can be sent to www.gofundme.com/libfre, or directly to LIBFRE, 26 Gingerbread Lane, East Hampton, NY 11937. 

Visit LIBFRE’s newly launched website, www.libfre.com or Facebook at www.facebook.com/libfreinc.

For more information contact rebecca@libfre.com or helene@libfre.com.