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March 16, 2009

Judge KOs Goldin bid to halt Varian

Boston judge allows wind turbine, though company has project on hold

By Richard Gaines

A Superior Court judge has shot down the latest effort of environmental activist Stevan Goldin to overturn permits granted by the city and the state.

In a 12-page written opinion, Boston Judge Linda Giles explaining that Goldin had failed to establish standing for his appeal of an earlier environmental ruling that cleared the way for Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates to build a 30-story tall wind turbine on its property in the Blackburn Industrial Park, near the top of the city and at the outer edge of a wetland.

The ruling was replete with judgments against Goldin's legal case, which was supported by a 10-citizen group, as is his wont in the practice of fighting environmental projects via the administrative and civil court system on his own. Goldin and his group were represented by attorney Robert Wolfe.

Goldin attempted to make the case that the city and state environmental agencies had improperly approved the turbine for a site adjacent to the island's most important reservoir and watershed.

Varian's lawyer, Michael Faherty, who has battled Goldin on several such cases, said he intended to seek court costs not only from Goldin, but also from his citizen colleagues in the appeal. Goldin said he intends to appeal this most recent ruling to the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

In past conflicts with Faherty, Goldin has been chastised by Appeals Court for filing "frivolous" actions, and assessed court costs to discourage similar time-wasting endeavors.

Varian won the city and state's permits in 2007 for a pair of turbines to produce electricity for its high technology production process. The city's largest and only publicly traded company makes large machines used in the production of semiconductor chips, but with the world's recession acutely affecting electronics, the company has put the twin turbine project on hold. Varian has cut roughly a third of its work force over the past 15 months, trimming some 700 of its once-2,000-plus jobs.

In her ruling, dated Feb. 25, Judge Giles made a number of findings that disqualified Goldin from his standing to appeal the decision of an administrative judge in the state Department of Environmental Protection Administration to allow the turbines to be built.

For one thing, she wrote the plaintiff claimed incorrectly a constitutional property right that allowed him standing in the case.

"It is clear (Goldin and his co-appellants) have no constitutionally protected property interest in the environment," the judge ruled. "As a result, DEP was under no constitutional obligation to conduct a formal adjuratory hearing (for Goldin).

She also noted that Goldin erred by claiming the Wetlands Protection Act protected wildlife, on whose behalf Goldin was appealing.

"The Act does not protect wildlife," the judge wrote, "but rather wildlife habitat values served by wetlands resources that are protected under the act."

In general, the judge wrote, "(Goldin's) conclusory allegations were too vague to sustain its notice of claim."

Goldin has persisted in his citizen appeals while fighting and winning a judgment against the district attorney and police department's effort to charge him with extortion. The claim was that Goldin used the threat of an appeal to attempt to obtain financial payments from developers.

The state attorney general's office has subsequently filed action against Goldin, accusing him of soliciting for an unregistered charity.

Richard Gaines may be contacted at rgaines@gloucestertimes.com.

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Judge KOs Goldin bid to halt Varian
by By Richard Gaines , , Mon Mar 16, 2009, 05:55 AM EDT
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