Construction crews are ready to pour concrete foundations for wind turbines for the Amazon wind farm in Eastern North Carolina, but a group of local residents are attempting to block the project.

The Raleigh News and Observer reports that Jillanne Gigi Badawi and her husband, Stephen Owens, residents of Perquimans County, are asking the NC Office of Administrative Hearings to force state regulators to give the project a new regulatory review. The couple live less than a mile from the nearest wind turbine site and worries about noise, environmental effects and property values.

The N&O says the couple is backed by the Civitas Institute, a conservative think tank that maintains renewable energy is a “costly boondoggle.”

They filed suit last week against the NC Department of Environmental Quality, which would oversee the review they want.

Neither the project developer, Iberdrola nor Amazon are parties to the suit.

Officials maintain the project has all the local, state, and federal permits and approvals needed to proceed.

For the N&O story see: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article37244796.html