Shelby files court motion to be included in Orleans suit to halt STAMP pipeline

Photo by Tom Rivers: A pipeline is under construction along Route 63 headed north in the Town of Alabama. This photo is from Sunday. The Town of Shelby is seeking to join a lawsuit to prevent the sewer line from coming into Orleans County and discharging into Oak Orchard Creek.

SHELBY – The Town of Shelby filed a motion in State Supreme Court on Friday to join Orleans County in seeking to prevent a sewer main from coming into Shelby and depositing wastewater into the Oak Orchard Creek.

The Shelby Town Board voted on Tuesday to seek to intervene in the Orleans County lawsuit. On Friday, attorneys Jeremy Sher and Jeffrey Allen of Bond, Schoeneck & King in Rochester filed the motion on behalf of Shelby.

The attorneys state Orleans County brought a proceeding to stop construction of the pipeline from the STAMP manufacturing site in Alabama. The Genesee County Economic Development Center is seeking to build the sewer line that would go nearly 10 miles from STAMP along Route 63 to Oak Orchard Creek. The sewer line is under construction and getting close to Shelby.

The motion on behalf of Shelby states the town opposes the construction of the pipeline in Shelby.

The attorneys ask to be heard on Oct. 23 in State Supreme Court at the Orleans County Courthouse “or as soon thereafter as counsel may be heard.”

Scott Wengewicz, Town Supervisor in Shelby, said Shelby should be a party in the lawsuit.

“As a party, the Town would receive notice of and an opportunity to respond to all filings in the lawsuit and make its own filings if it believes that Orleans County is inadequately representing the Town’s interests,” he said on Friday.

Orleans County on Sept. 11 filed suit in State Supreme Court to stop a sewer line from coming into the Town of Shelby and depositing up to 6 million gallons of what Orleans says is “contaminated” water into the Oak Orchard Creek.

The county alleges that the Genesee County Economic Development Center formed a “sham corporation” in STAMP Sewer Works to make the 9.5-mile-long sewer main happen.

Orleans officials worry the sewer discharge could impair the water quality of the creek, cause flooding and hurt economic development opportunities at the Medina Business Park.

STAMP would send up to 6 million gallons a day of wastewater at full capacity. The first two tenants at STAMP – Plug Power and Edwards Vacuum – would have a daily discharge of 50,000 gallons of treated wastewater, GCEDC said.