Environmental Groups Sue to STOP Solar Panel Farm at NJ Amusement Park

Six Flags Great Adventure, a New Jersey amusement park, wants to create a huge solar farm that will generate enough electricity to make the park energy independent.  A big business that is trying to operate on an entirely renewable energy source – that sounds like something environmentalist would be applauding, right?  Not so fast.  Several environmental groups recently filed a lawsuit to stop the project because it calls for the removal of trees on the site.

The lawsuit filed against the amusement park and the solar energy company, KDC Solar, is seeking an injunction to halt the project, which they claim will result in the clearing of 90 acres of environmentally sensitive forest land.  They argue that the solar farm project violates local ordinances for tree removal.  They further claim that the local planning board failed to follow required procedures for approving the project, including not studying alternatives to deforestation.

However, the environmental groups don’t want the project halted altogether.  They want Great Adventure to build the solar farm above its parking lot. Although Great Adventure has not commented on the lawsuit, it has previously issued public statements regarding the proposal to build the solar farm above its parking lot.  It apparently ruled out the idea because of concerns over customer safety and decreased parking area.  Increased costs of 20 to 50 percent also may have been a factor in the decision.

It should be interesting to see where this goes.  It will likely come down to whether the planning board took the right procedural actions and, if not, whether they want to cure the procedural deficiencies in order to allow the project to move forward.