The Jamestown Post-Journal says Chautauqua Institution has filed a motion opposing the requested involvement of the Chautauqua Lake Partnership (CLP) in a State Supreme Court lawsuit filed by the institution earlier this year.
In August the Institution filed a lawsuit against the Town of Ellery and the State Department of Environmental Conservation challenging the process by which the town received state permission to treat areas of Chautauqua Lake with herbicides. Ellery made the request on behalf of the CLP, which was the organization pushing for herbicide treatment in the lake to fight invasive weeds.
Earlier this month the CLP announced it was making a motion to intervene in the lawsuit. However, the institution says it would be unethical to for the CLP to join the lawsuit since it also was the principal author of the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement used to allow the herbicide treatment. Because representatives from CLP will be serving as material witnesses, the institution argues they are not permitted to sign on to intervene in the lawsuit as well.
The state supreme court will likely act on the motion by the CLP to join the lawsuit, as well as the institution’s opposition to the matter, during a hearing scheduled for Nov. 14. Meanwhile, the court is hearing arguments Thursday on moving the lawsuit from state supreme court in Erie County to the supreme court in Chautauqua County.
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