Oakham Select Board Authorizes Joint Legal Push Against BEST Energy Project

OAKHAM — July 7, 2025 — Oakham Select Board moves to confront BEST energy project with unified legal strategy. The board voted unanimously Monday to coordinate a joint session of the Select Board, Conservation Commission, and Planning Board with town counsel KP Law to address what the Conservation Commission says was an inaccurate filing by project proponent Moraga before the state Energy Facilities Siting Board — specifically, an Abbreviated Notice of Resource Delineation that the commission says omitted roughly half the relevant resource area, producing a flawed Order of Resource Area Delineation recorded at the Worcester Registry of Deeds. With an EFSB hearing potentially as early as August, the board directed staff to contact counsel the following morning to schedule an evening joint session. The board also unanimously awarded FY26 seasonal highway bids from eight bidders, accepted Fire Chief Timothy Howe's request to take only a 2 percent raise — matching his department's members rather than the nearly 4 percent budgeted — with surplus funds remaining in the firefighter wage account, and received word that the Central Regional Emergency Communications Center (formerly Rutland Regional Dispatch) was awarded a $473,790 State 911 Department grant for radio infrastructure.