Environmentalists and shadowy labor group may sue over planned solar farm.

Spirits were high for solar developers Feb. 10. Hours before the Monterey County Board of Supervisors was scheduled to vote on a 2,900-acre solar project called California Flats, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced his company’s plans to buy $850 million worth of power from the project.

After dozens of speakers weighed in for and against the project, supervisors voted 5-0 to approve developer First Solar’s plan, slated for construction on Hearst Ranch property in South County.

Since then, Arizona-based First Solar has been negotiating with environmental groups opposing the project as a March 13 deadline for filing lawsuits approaches.

“Whether or not litigation happens is an open question,” says Blake Matheson, board president of the Monterey chapter of the Audubon Society. Audubon is part of a coalition of environmental groups pushing Hearst to set aside grassland to make up for lost habitat.

Meanwhile, a separate group called Monterey County Residents for Responsible Development is also considering a lawsuit. The group’s attorney, Laura Horton, appeared at multiple county meetings to speak against the project.

Horton’s firm also has represented California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE), a coalition that pushes for union contracts on power plants across the state. CURE has reached settlement agreements on at least 11 power projects, getting environmental commitments and, in some cases, labor concessions.

Critics call the practice “greenmailing.”

“Organizations like Monterey County Residents for Responsible Development are fake organizations set up by San Francisco law firms,” Ann Gaglioti told the Board of Supervisors Feb. 10. Gaglioti, whose firm GroundWork Renewables provides weather stations for solar companies, is married to First Solar’s local project developer, John Gaglioti.

Horton, of San Francisco law firm Adams Broadwell Joseph & Cardozo, declined to comment on specific negotiations with First Solar.

CURE is a project of the State Building & Construction Trades Council of California. But Ron Chesshire, CEO of the Monterey/Santa Cruz Building Trades Council, a member of the state council, has not heard of Horton or her group: “I have no idea who the hell she is.”

Horton did not return calls asking for more information. In documents filed with the county, she identifies three group members: CURE, Robert Greene and Manuel Ramos. The latter two are members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 234. They could not be located for comment.