ALBANY, NY — The company that wants to build a $1 billion power plant in Wawayanda in Orange County has been identified as being at the center of an investigation by federal prosecutor Preet Bharara.

Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) has received various approvals from the state in pursuing the project, which has spurred a highly visible backlash from activists in the region. The 650 megawatt plant would be fired by natural gas, which would come, at least in part, through the Millennium Pipeline; Millennium has applied through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build a pipeline to the CPV plant.

The New York Daily News reported on April 29 that because of the investigation, the Cuomo administration has cut off all contact with CPV. According to multiple news stories, the investigation is looking into whether a former top aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Joe Percoco, improperly received tens of thousands of dollars from CPV while he was a government employee and did not reveal conflicts of interest.

After news of the investigation—which also includes an investigation of the Buffalo Billion investment program in the western part of the state—surfaced, the governor’s counsel, Alphonso David, issued a statement that said, “This investigation has recently raised questions of improper lobbying and undisclosed conflicts of interest by some individuals which may have deceived state employees involved in the respective programs and may have defrauded the state. We take violations of the public trust seriously and we believe these issues must be resolved by further investigation by the U.S. Attorney.”

Along with ending all contact with CPV, Cuomo appointed Bart M. Schwartz to perform an investigation of the programs in question. Schwartz also issued a statement that said, “The state of New York awards significant funding and regulatory approvals to private sector companies.

“The state has reason to believe that in certain programs and regulatory approvals they may have been defrauded by improper bidding and failures to disclose potential conflicts of interest by lobbyists and former state employees. The U.S. Attorney has an ongoing investigation that has revealed important information in this regard.

“As the state needs to continue operating these important programs, they have asked me to commence an immediate review of all grants and approvals—past, current and future—in certain programs and operations…,”

The activist group Protect Orange County also issued a statement saying, “The residents of Orange County have long been calling for a federal investigation into the numerous irregularities in the approval process for the CPV Valley Power Plant and related Minisink Compressor Station… We applaud the launch of this probe and hope it serves to explain these irregularities and restore the integrity of the review process. When corporate manipulation of government compromises the environmental review process for projects with potential health and safety implications, the consequences can be catastrophic.”