NEWS

Supreme Court quizzes Green Bay officials on Oneida permit

Scott Cooper Williams
Press-Gazette Media

Site of the proposed Oneida waste-to-energy plant at 1230 Hurlbut Street in Green Bay.

MADISON The city of Green Bay's effort to halt a controversial waste-to-energy development on the city's west side now rests in the hands of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments Thursday on whether the city rightfully revoked a permit from an Oneida Tribe of Indians company pushing the alternative energy development.

Green Bay aldermen initially approved the project, but they changed their minds later amid concerns that Oneida Seven Generations Corp. had misled the city about potential environmental hazards.

During a 90-minute hearing Thursday, justices asked several questions about the city's rationale for believing developers had concealed the project's potential for emissions and pollution.

"I don't think they can just pull the permit because they have a change of heart," Justice Annette Ziegler said.

The city's attorney, Ted Warpinski, argued Oneida Seven Generations representatives presented renderings showing no smokestacks and that they assured city officials the plant would not generate harmful emissions.

When those descriptions proved to be false, Warpinski said, the city was within its rights to halt the development by revoking the permit.

"It really goes to the integrity of process," he said.

Oneida attorney Michael Apfeld, however, told justices the company had outlined the development in extensive detail and that city officials knew what sort of plant was being proposed.

The city has not presented sufficient evidence of a purposeful attempt to mislead city officials, Apfeld said.

"They did not misunderstand what the project was all about," he said. "There's not a shred of evidence they were misled."

Wisconsin Supreme Court justices, left, listen as Green Bay city attorney Ted Warpinski, standing right, delivers the city’s arguments Thursday in the Oneida plant permit case.

The seven-member Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling in the dispute later this year.

The impact of the ruling is unclear, especially since Oneida tribal members opposed to the alternative energy development have taken steps to dissolve Oneida Seven Generations as a corporation.

Oneida Seven Generations, a development firm created by the tribe, wants to build a facility at 1230 Hurlbut St. to process tons of household waste at high temperatures, in a procedure known as gasification or pyrolysis.

Supporters call the concept a green-friendly approach to reduce landfill dumping, while critics liken it to a trash incinerator that would create pollution and health hazards.

Green Bay aldermen approved the development in March 2011 over protests from neighbors and environmentalists. But the aldermen changed their minds a year later, raising the argument that Oneida Seven Generations officials had misled the city.

Oneida Seven Generations responded by taking the city to court.

After a Brown County judge ruled in the city's favor, a state appeals court later found the city had overstepped its authority in halting the development. The city then appealed to the state Supreme Court.

The Wisconsin Realtors Association has filed its own argument in the case, urging the Supreme Court to rule against the city. The association stated in a written brief that it would set "a dangerous precedent" if Green Bay were allowed to revoke the Oneida's company permit without presenting enough evidence that the developer obtained the permit fraudulently.

"All permits will have a cloud of uncertainty," the association argued, "and will be subject to revocation any time local elected officials change their mind."

— swilliams@pressgazette media.com and follow him on Twitter @pgscottwilliams.