Ohio residents seek $3.3 million over 250 trees cut from protected forest

A dispute over the removal of around 250 trees from a forest near a former coal-fired power plant in Ohio has reached a federal court. Residents of Pierce Township are seeking $3.3 million in damages from the property's new owner, alleging that it violated an agreement requiring the forest to remain largely undisturbed. The trial began on November 9 in Cincinnati, with a jury set to decide whether the company breached the agreement by cutting down trees and creating logging roads.According to WCPO 9's report, the forest is part of a greenbelt near the former William C. Beckjord coal plant along the Ohio River. Residents say the greenbelt was meant to act as a natural barrier between their community and the buried coal ash at the site. They are concerned that removing mature trees has damaged this protective area, which they wanted to preserve.The lawsuit was filed in 2019 by Neighbors Opposed to Pit Expansion (NOPE), a group of Pierce Township residents. The case names Commercial Liability Partners (CLP), a Missouri-based company that bought the 1,443-acre former power plant property from Duke Energy in February 2018. Although CLP owns the land, NOPE controls the easement governing the greenbelt.The disagreement centres on a 1986 agreement that required the greenbelt to remain in a "substantially undisturbed" condition.