Press Release  Solar Energy Developer and Owner Settle Claims of Illegal Stormwater Discharge Into Wetlands in Southampton

BOSTON — A New Jersey-based solar energy development company, CS Energy, LLC, and Eversource Energy have agreed to pay up to $310,000 to settle allegations that they violated state wetlands and clean water laws by discharging sediment-laden stormwater into Moose Brook, a valuable cold-water fishery, and its tributaries and associated wetlands during the construction of a solar array in Southampton, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

“Solar energy is an important part of our state’s thriving clean energy economy, but developers must construct these projects in a way that complies with state laws and does not harm our natural resources,” AG Healey said. “In collaboration with our state partners, we will take action against those who violate our laws and pollute our waters.”

The consent judgment, entered on April 7 in Suffolk Superior Court, settles allegations by the AG’s Office that CS Energy and Eversource violated the Wetlands Protection Act and the Clean Waters Act and their corresponding regulations when the companies failed to adequately implement erosion and stormwater controls for the 11.7-acre solar array that CS Energy was constructing and Eversource owned. In its complaint, the AG’s Office alleges that those failures continued for months despite repeated warnings from the project’s stormwater environmental compliance monitor that corrective action was needed and that illegal stormwater discharges were occurring. 

“Today’s settlement includes a significant component of local resource area protection,” said Michael Gorski, Director of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s (MassDEP) regional office in Springfield. “The violation resulted in the alteration of protected resource areas, including Moose Brook, a Cold-water Fisheries Resource in Southampton. The settlement directs $70,000 toward the preservation of 8.7 acres of land near the site of the violation that is critical habitat, in addition to the significant monetary penalty and restoration requirements.”

In its complaint, the AG’s Office alleges that during construction of the solar array in 2018 and 2019, CS Energy and Eversource caused or allowed sediment-laden stormwater to flow in significant volumes off the array site into tributaries that feed into Moose Brook. By the end of 2018, according to the complaint, those illegal sediment discharges had clogged one of the streams, dumped sediment in a bordering wetland area, and, turned Moose Brook’s waters cloudy downstream of the solar array. CS Energy also allegedly failed to comply with an enforcement order issued by the Southampton Conservation Commission directing it to install and maintain adequate erosion and sedimentation controls.

Under the terms of the consent judgment, CS Energy and Eversource, together, will pay a civil penalty of up to $240,000 – $96,000 of which will be suspended pending compliance with the terms of the consent judgment. CS Energy will also spend up to $70,000 to preserve for conservation purposes an 8.7-acre Easthampton property located along the Manhan River near its confluence with Moose Brook, an important habitat area for two rare species, the wood turtle and the creeper freshwater mussel. The property is located in close proximity to existing conservation land and will contribute to development of a protected Manhan River corridor.    

Stormwater pollution is regulated under the Commonwealth’s wetlands and clean water laws and is recognized as the largest threat to water quality in the state.

This case was handled by Assistant Attorney General Tracy Triplett of Attorney General Healey’s Environmental Protection Division, with the assistance of Senior Regional Counsel Heather Parent, and technical staff members David Cameron and David Foulis of MassDEP’s Western Regional Office in Springfield.

###