Four Hamptons residents have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to stop work on the land-based portion of the South Fork Wind Farm.
This is the latest in a series of attempts to block the burying of a high-voltage cable 11 feet underground. It will run four miles from Wainscott Beach to an electrical substation in East Hampton.
The lawsuit claims the project will cause contamination of public and private water wells. It also claims federal agencies, including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, “barely considered” the environmental risks.
Trenching work began in late February. The wind farm’s developers Orsted and Eversource, have said they will regularly test groundwater for contamination and PFAS chemicals.
The South Fork Wind Farm has received pushback from Wainscott residents, as well as commercial fishing groups. It will be the country’s second, and New York’s first, offshore wind farm — located 35 miles off Montauk Point.
