STATE AND LOCAL SOLAR LAWS |
Hecate Energy is seeking New York State approval to build a 265-acre, industrial-size solar facility in Craryville and Copake, which violates the Town of Copake’s zoning laws, and is in direct conflict with the Town of Copake’s 2011 Comprehensive Plan (click HERE) and 2014 Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan (click HERE). On October 28, 2020, the Copake Town Board unanimously passed a resolution strongly opposing the solar project, and to date more than 4,000 Copake and Columbia County residents have signed a Change.org petition in opposition.
Background on the history of laws governing the siting of renewable energy projects:
In February 2020, after all debate on the New York State budget had ended, Governor Cuomo added an amendment to the budget titled the Accelerated Renewable Energy Act or “94-c”. It proposed replacing the existing large scale renewables siting process (Article 10 under the Department of Public Service) with a new Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) to speed up the approval of these projects, even if it means that local laws are waived and environmental studies are limited.
This Act, along with everything else attached to the budget, was passed in April 2020.
Under 94-c, the newly formed ORES quickly drafted regulations and uniform standards so they can begin to approve large scale renewable projects. These regulations were drafted by Tetra Tech, a consultant that works for solar developers, including several with plans to build in New York. Naturally the regulations are heavily tilted in favor of the developers.
Hecate transferred their application from the Article 10 process to the 94-c process in early 2021 to take advantage of the more developer friendly 94-c regulations.
Home Rule — Copake’s Prohibition on Utility-scale Solar Installation |
New York State Municipal Home Rule Law, which is part of New York State’s Constitution, affords local governments broad authority to regulate their own affairs, including the option to prohibit most types land uses through zoning.
However, as part of the 94-c permitting process, ORES may elect not to apply, in whole or in part, any local law or ordinance which would otherwise be applicable if it makes a finding that, as applied to the proposed major renewable energy facility, it is “unreasonably burdensome” in view of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (“CLCPA”) targets and the environmental benefits of the proposed major renewable energy facility. This gives ORES significantly more flexibility to choose not to apply a local law and changes the applicable standard to one that expressly favors progress toward the State’s CLCPA’s goals over the local values embedded in the local laws.
Bottom line, even though the Town of Copake has local laws restricting the siting of solar facilities, these laws can be ignored by ORES when making a decision regarding whether to grant a permit for a project.