Three years ago, the Copake town board, citing the adverse impact on rural roads and community, unanimously passed a resolution opposing the development and installation of the Shepherd's Run Solar Farm. The battle continues.
New York's Office of Renewable Energy Siting has now granted a draft permit to a developer, essentially green-lighting the 60-megawatt project.
Hecate Energy's proposal to build the 255-acre solar farm along County Route 7A has been long debated. In June 2021 the town of Copake joined 12 other municipalities along with some environmental and conservation advocate organizations in filing a lawsuit in state Supreme Court of Albany County against the state Office of Renewable Energy Siting, an agency created to fast-track the permitting process for new renewable energy projects. The suit alleged that the agency was attempting to circumvent local zoning laws. In May 2023, Justices of the Third Department state Appellate Court upheld a lower court ruling dismissing the lawsuit.
Deputy Town Supervisor Richard Wolf says Copake’s Comprehensive Plan, Farmland Protection Plan, zoning code, and solar energy laws have been crafted to support agriculture, protect valuable farmland and promote tourism. He says the state siting agency has decided that town laws are "unduly burdensome," because complying with them would make the project more expensive.
“We're not climate deniers, we're not NIMBYists," Wolf said. "We support renewable energy. And we're prepared to do our part. But constructing a massive facility alongside a country road, that is the gateway to Copake and Copake Lake just makes no sense. We've attempted to have a dialogue with Hecate about it. But a dialogue requires two parties. And Hecate has refused to have serious discussions with us. Why? Because it knows it doesn't have to. The only dialogue it seems to care about is that with New York State's Office of Renewable Energy Siting, that's because the regulations governing the siting process tilt the playing field heavily in favor of developers, starting with $42 million in renewable energy credits as an incentive.”
Matthew Levine, a Senior Director of Development with Hecate, says the company has gone through the permitting process multiple times, and has "had a tremendous amount of interaction with the town over the years going back to 2017."
"We have been attending every single town board meeting to receive constituent feedback and tried to incorporate it into the project," said Levine.
Wolf refutes that, saying there has been little recent communication, arguing that if Hecate really cared about Copake it would have worked with the town.
"To make the installation less unattractive, and protect nearby homeowners from dramatic losses in the values of their homes. Still working with us. An ad hoc working group proposed the creation of a 300-acre green space, running alongside the length of the project, screening the project from the most at risk and closest houses that are right across the road, and creating bicycle paths and nature trails. And I've said repeatedly at town board meetings that the green space could turn Shepherd's Run from an eyesore into a tourist attraction. But so far, there's been no movement on that whatsoever. And when I say that Hecate he hasn't been interested in speaking with us months and months and months have gone by without them talking to us at all," Wolf said.
"We met with working groups, landscaping architects multiple times, and we incorporated their feedback, some of their feedback into our landscaping plan," Levine said. "It incorporates, you know, various examples of suggestions from the working group. Taking a step back, there were a lot of, you know, requests and a lot of hard work put into the working groups suggestions to Hecate for the project. And Hecate tried to incorporate as much as they could, while still making the project viable and helpful to achieve the state's clean energy goals."
The Office of Renewable Energy Siting tells WAMC Hecate's application is under review and the decision process is underway: four in-person public comment hearings will be held on January 9 and 10 in the Town of Copake, with two virtual public comment hearings scheduled for January 11. The Office will accept written comments concerning the proposed solar facility and the draft siting permit through January 12. The draft siting permit may be accessed at ORES’s website at https://ores.ny.gov/permit-applications; click on Project DMM Matter Number 21-02553.
Wolf says power generated by the solar farm will be sent to New York City, with no economic benefit to the town and no assurances that any jobs at Shepherd's Run will be for locals.
"In the meantime, our attorney and environmental engineer are reviewing the draft permit. And we'll see what they have to tell us and what next steps might be," Wolf said.
