Town Board urges review of proposed state energy office

The Town Board wants the proposed state Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Benefit Act dropped from state budget discussions and moved to open consideration by the municipalities it would affect.

At a board meeting Monday, town Supervisor John Perry said the goals of the proposed law may be worthwhile, but it would take away some of the authority that municipalities have over whether wind and solar projects should be approved.

“Basically, (it is) trying to assist in these areas of energy, but in doing so, (the governor) is going to be removing some of our home rule abilities,” Perry said.

In a press release, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said a state Office of Renewable Energy Permitting would be created to “improve and streamline the process for environmentally responsible and cost-effective siting of large-scale renewable energy projects.”

Current law allows projects producing less than 25 megawatts to be reviewed according to local zoning and land use regulations. Under the proposed act, the local review threshold would be reduced to 10 megawatts; anything larger would have to be submitted to the state for approval.

Councilwoman Melinda McKnight, who co-owns a business that works with programs to reduce fossil fuel use, said the proposed state legislation should be given consideration, but not within a budget process that lacks wide public input.

“There are state goals in the next five years to reduce energy use (by) 185 billion BTUs of heating fuel and 124 gigawatts of electric,” she said. “That’s what this (legislation) is designed to do ... (but) I’m not in support of (Cuomo) doing this through the budget process.”

McKnight said officials need to consider what the impact of the law would be on home rule.

The proposed the state Office of Renewable Energy Permitting was announced by Cuomo on Feb. 21, nearly a month after the initial budget was released, and has caught several municipal boards off guard.

Last week, the Rosendale Town Board was baffled by the proposed regulations and wanted more information about its impact on local authority to review projects.

“The governor has historically taken away home rule whenever possible,” Rosendale town Supervisor Jeanne Walsh said.

Walsh said there are concerns that the amount of electricity needed from wind and solar projects could require a large amounts of land that is currently undeveloped or used as farmland.

“If it’s going to take the place of other types of power, then they are going to want bigger arrays,” she said.