Contact Governor Kathy Hochul!

 Leave a phone message, or send an email, or both!!

Tell her NO PERMIT FOR SHEPHERD’S RUN!!!

Governor Kathy Hochul
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

 518-474-8390

  https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form

Governor Hochul oversees the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) which has until September, 2026 to grant or deny a Final Permit for Shepherd’s Run.  ORES is no longer accepting public comment.  Demand that Governor Hochul intervene to protect our school, our prime farmland, our wetlands and drinking water, our threatened species.

WHY WE OPPOSE HECATE’S SHEPHERD’S RUN SOLAR PROJECT

THE BASICS

Output—a drop in the bucket

• Nameplate size: 42 MW
New York needs more renewable energy, but Shepherd’s Run will generate very little. 42MW is the maximum output of Shepherd’s Run under the best of circumstances. If it is cloudy it will produce much less, and at night nothing at all. Using an 18% capacity factor, Shepherd’s Run will generate a mere .04% of NY State’s baseline electrical output in 2025.

Physical Size—20 times the town limit

• Total Project Area: 723 acres including wetlands
• Total Project  Footprint: 215 acres
• Solar panel fenced area: 173 acres

Hecate controls over 700 acres, and is seeking a permit to install solar panels on 215 acres. A Town of Copake law limits solar projects to 10 acres. However, the draft Permit allows 20 times that limit.

COMMUNITY SAFETY

Fire and Smoke Risk to Taconic Schools

Solar panels will border the Taconic Hills Central Schools, a K-12 public school serving more than 1000 students from multiple towns. Hecate indicates the potential for brushfires and equipment fires in its permit application, and the potential need to evacuate workers. It states that fires should not be fought with water and should be allowed to burn themselves out since solar panels will remain live as long as the sun shines. Fires have occurred at other solar facilities in New York State. Hecate nevertheless claims there is no fire risk to the school or nearby residences. It has therefore developed no evacuation plan. The schools will be at serious risk from fire and smoke.

Economic Injustice to Neighbors

Seven homes of long time residents on County Route 7 will face the project. They will likely lose 100 percent of their resale value, as they will be unsaleable, according to the NY Association of Realtors. The lifetime investment of these families in their homes will be destroyed.

Financial Security at Risk 

Court briefs filed in July and August of 2025 in Delaware indicate Hecate is in default on two separate multimillion dollar loans. This raises concerns about whether permit requirements can be met and whether the project, once begun, will be completed. Should Hecate start construction and be forced to stop mid-project due to lack of money, the effect on the community and environment would be disastrous.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Loss of Prime Agricultural Land

Most of the Shepherd’s Run site—82%— is currently being farmed, as pasture for natural beef and for growing corn and soybeans. Of the land Hecate will cover in solar panels, 60% (128 acres) is the very best prime agricultural land (classified by NY State as Mineral Soil Groups 1-4). Hecate claims that some of the land may be used for some of the year for sheep grazing; this does not make up for the loss of prime agricultural land.

Threat to Streams, Wetlands and Hudson’s Drinking Water

The Shepherd’s Run site is wholly within the Taghkanic Watershed, including Taghkanic Creek. The Taghkanic Creek is the source of 100% of the drinking water for the City of Hudson. Hecate’s permit application states that the site includes 17 wetlands and 13 streams, all Class 1, some classified as trout streams. These numbers do not reflect DEC January 2025 regulations which broaden the definition of regulated wetlands.

The 1-2 year construction process— creating access roads, digging tens of thousands of holes for supports, laying cables and installing tens of thousands of solar panels— has the potential to pollute these waters. Extreme weather events such as floods and hurricanes, now more frequent than in the past, increase those risks. Hecate will not, in many cases, create 100 foot setbacks from streams and wetlands, as required by DEC regulation and Town of Copake law—a requirement that protects water quality that all other NYS property owners must observe. Hecate has declined to comply on the grounds that observing 100 foot setbacks uniformly would decrease the project’s output by 5.6 MW. The potential impact on Hudson’s water supply has been ignored.

Loss of Endangered and Threatened Species

Three NYS endangered or threatened species — the bald eagle, peregrine falcon and northern harrier (marsh hawk) — have been observed at the site. Hecate acknowledges that 100 acres of the northern harrier habitat will be destroyed by the project. It suggests that 25 acres of alternative habitat will be set aside elsewhere, although this is not stated in the draft permit. Hecate does not indicate how the northern harrier will be persuaded tomove to its new location, or whether 25 acres will be sufficient.  Alternative habitat for the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon is not even proposed.

Clearcutting

In the name of combatting climate change, Shepherd’s Run will remove 35 acres of trees to install solar panels. But trees themselves fight climate change. Trees capture carbon in the air and turn it into wood and roots. Trees also prevent erosion and give bears, coyotes, birds and skunks a place to live. We need to keep the trees we have, and plant more, not clearcut them.

Damage to Cultural Resources

Five National Register of Historic Places-eligible cultural resources, including the 19th century Craryville Train Depot, will be adversely affected by Shepherd’s Run, per the official review by NY State’s Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Acres of solar panels will obliterate the history and heritage of the area.

Noise and Traffic

Shepherd’s Run will be under construction from 7 AM to 8 PM, 7 days a week, for one to two YEARS, with 10 pile drivers, 547 dump trucks, cranes, excavators, and more. Route 23 and County Route 7 will be closed periodically. School bus routes are likely to be disrupted. Noise levels are expected to reach 60-65 db, twice the 30-35 db standard for learning and teaching environments. Disruption to the school and local traffic will be extensive.

NYS RULES AND REGULATIONS FAVOR RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPERS

Permit Process

Normally, any new construction project must evaluate environmental impact, observe town zoning laws, and comply with all relevant state regulations. However, for large scale renewable energy projects, New York State has made the NYS Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) the sole decider on permits. It can grant waivers to all applicable state and local laws. So far, it has not rejected a single project.

Hecate’s application to ORES for Shepherd’s Run was deemed complete in September, 2025, and ORES issued a Draft Permit for the project on November 18, 2025. Hecate requested and received 16 waivers from local laws for Shepherd’s Run, more than any other project pending in New York State, including
several projects that are much larger. A 60 day public comment period on the Draft Permit, when anyone can submit comments in writing, is open until January 27, 2026.

Public Hearings

Concerned citizens have a chance to speak out in person on the Draft Permit. ORES has scheduled in-person public hearings, to be held at the Copake Town Hall at 230 Mountain View Road, on January 21 and 22, 2026. Anyone can make a statement, with a first session starting at 2 PM and a second session starting at 6 PM. Prior registration is not necessary but speakers may be limited to 3 minutes.

ORES will also hold a virtual hearing on January 27 starting at 2 PM and at 6 PM. Prior Registration IS required. Go to: https://dps.ny.gov/calendar, click on the “View DPS Calendar Listings” button under “Calendars” section, scroll to and click on Hecate Energy Columbia County 1, LLC (Shepherd’s Run Solar) Virtual Public Comment Hearing, and click the “Register” button.

ORES also has the option of scheduling an Adjudicatory Hearing, but only on matters not previously addressed by ORES. ORES has not held an Adjudicatory Hearing on any project so far. ORES has up to one year from the Complete Application date, i.e. until September 19, 2026, to issue or deny a Final Permit for Shepherd’s Run.

This Fact Sheet was prepared by Sensible Solar for Rural New York (SSRNY). See
sensiblesolarny.org. The information here comes from Hecate’s permit application
filed with the NY Office of Renewable Energy Siting,  Matter Master: 24-03041
unless otherwise noted.