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LEGAL NEWSLINE

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Kilmartin drops predecessor's lawsuit

Kilmartin

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Legal Newsline) - Rhode Island's new attorney general, Peter Kilmartin, has filed a motion to dismiss his predecessor's lawsuit that seeks to stop the construction of a wind farm on an island south of the state's coast.

Kilmartin, in a motion filed Friday, said "after careful review" of the brief filed by former Attorney General Patrick Lynch, he "does not desire to pursue this matter or maintain this petition."

Lynch had wanted the state's high court to throw out a contract between a wind farm developer, Deepwater Wind, and National Grid, an electricity and gas company. The contract had already been approved by the state's Public Utilities Commission.

Deepwater wanted to build eight turbines on Block Island and then sell the electricity to National Grid.

Kilmartin had vowed to end the Supreme Court appeal undertaken by Lynch while campaigning for attorney general in the fall. Kilmartin was reportedly the only one of five candidates who disagreed with Lynch's appeal.

According to his campaign website, Kilmartin described himself as a "full supporter of Deepwater Wind."

Even with the attorney general cancelling the state's appeal, other appeals by the Conservation Law Foundation and ratepayers Toray Plastics and Polytop Corp. remain.

The law foundation, in particular, alleges that the state's General Assembly has favored Deepwater and that it pressured the utilities commission to OK the contract.

According to Providence Business News, the Court is expected to hear oral arguments in the case in the spring.

From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by e-mail at jessica@legalnewsline.com.

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