| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Department of State to oversee renewable siting office
Credit: By Marie J. French. 03/31/2020. subscriber.politicopro.com ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Sen. Kevin Parker, chair of the chamber’s Energy Committee, said the budget will include a landmark shift to how new renewable projects get sited – and the process will be overseen by the Department of State.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed to rewrite the permitting process for large-scale wind and solar projects, which have faced delays and drawn-out battles under the Article 10 process he signed into law in 2011. The final deal is set to mirror Cuomo’s plan in substance, although he wanted Empire State Development to oversee the new siting office. It will include provisions to identify shovel-ready sites and changes to transmission siting.
The deal includes a requirement for community benefit agreements for local governments, according to two sources familiar with the agreement, but not other major concessions. Municipalities raised significant concerns about the proposal because it strips away local control of some smaller projects and limits their input compared to Article 10.
“I don’t think they’re going to be very happy,” Parker said of local governments. “It was a tough decision but I think ultimately for us to get where we need to get to, you couldn’t have 217 local governments making decisions on siting clean energy projects.”
Parker said his concerns about a potentially outsized role for the New York Power Authority had been addressed. Changes to transmission siting are also included, Parker said.
Environmental advocates who pushed the siting plan were pleased it appears to be included. Changes will help speed achievement of the state’s climate goals, said New York League of Conservation Voters’ Julie Tighe.
“We know that as the economy starts moving and we try to get people out in jobs, this is an area where we can help communities, where we can get people to work at green jobs and we can start tackling climate change,” she said. “We know that Article 10 has been broken and it needs to work better if we’re going to meet our goals.”
The details are expected in budget bills that have not yet been released.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Funding |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=96822 ]
