Letter to Legislators: Reform Renewable Energy Siting

 

March 16, 2020

 

Dear Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, Speaker Heastie and members of the NYS Legislature,

Thank you for your leadership at this time in protecting New Yorkers’ health from the Coronavirus. While we experience this terrible public health crisis, we are reminded of the looming climate crisis that will reach unmitigatable scale in the decade to come unless we urgently act now. We, the undersigned advocates and organizations, ask that you pass the Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth & Community Benefit Act as part of the budget. 

We have been on the frontlines of the fight against fracking and fracked gas infrastructure in New York. We have been working to advance renewable energy to replace fracked gas in New York’s energy system. Unfortunately, we have hit many roadblocks. In communities across the state that want to implement large-scale renewable energy, we have heard from developers it is not feasible or it is too slow. In order to quickly bring renewables online to transition off fossil fuels, we need you to change the Article 10 siting rules. It currently takes 5–10 years to get a renewable energy project built in New York State. As a result, while there are over 100 utility scale wind and solar projects proposed upstate, only 5 have made it through the Article 10 process in the last 8 years and only one of those is currently under construction. Clearly, the pace of wind and solar permitting and construction in New York needs to dramatically increase.

The state’s climate goals codified in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) are commendable and the Article 10 siting rules must be changed to ensure they are met. That’s why we call on you to change them in the budget, so that the state can move as quickly as possible to meet the CLCPA’s mandate of achieving 70% renewable energy by 2030. 

For those who say this will hurt municipalities’ ability to self-govern with Home Rule, this is not the case. We are the advocates who worked hand in hand with nearly 200 municipalities to ban fracking in their communities under Home Rule and we appreciate its power. The Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth & Community Benefit Act invites local input on draft permits and establishes a hearing process if local governments identify “substantive and significant” issues. Further, the act includes the same provisions as Article 10 regarding the requirement that projects comply with local laws provided they are not unreasonably burdensome, and sets aside intervenor funds for local governments to hire the experts they need to review proposed projects and participate in the process. Additionally, we ask that you work to create the incentives and outreach that will make New York’s towns and counties your partners in the state’s clean energy transition. Key among these is that the state ensures that communities hosting renewable energy projects are incentivized and that residents receive cost-savings benefits. 

In addition to improving the permitting process, the Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth & Community Benefit Act recognizes that 70% renewable electricity requires serious reinvestment in the transmission grid. In many locations, New York’s grid either doesn’t have the capacity to accept all the new wind and solar power, or doesn’t have the capacity to move the power to places it is needed. And for offshore wind, new transmission is needed to move the power to shore. That’s why the transmission portions of this bill — a study of how to reach the CLCPA goals, followed by a Public Service Commission proceeding to develop and pay for those transmission projects, plus a one-year clock on the transmission permitting — are so critical. 

Please, we urge you during these high-speed budget negotiations to enact the Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth & Community Benefit Act, included as part JJJ in the proposed Executive Budget, in its entirety. Let’s make New York a national climate leader and build renewable energy and transmission lines that will help us meet our goals to avoid climate catastrophe — all while creating good paying green jobs for New Yorkers.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

 

Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition

Adam Flint, Director Clean Energy Programs

 

Brooklyn for Peace

Charlotte Phillips, Chair

 

Climate Change Awareness and Action

Pete Wirth, Founder

 

Climate Justice Committee of CNY Solidarity Coalition

Kitty Burns, Chair

 

Citizens for Local Power

Susan Gillespie, Chair

 

Environmental Justice Task Force of the WNY Peace Center

Charley Bowman, Chair

 

Food and Water Watch

Alex Beauchamp, Northeast Region Director 

 

Fossil Free Tompkins

Irene Weiser, Coordinator

 

Frack Action

Julia Walsh, Campaign Director

 

Hudson River Sloop Clearwater

Manna Jo Greene, Environmental Director

 

Natural Resources Defense Council

Rich Schrader, NY Political Director

 

New York Interfaith Power & Light

Glenn Jacob, Executive Director

 

NY Sustainable Business Council

Bob Rossi, Executive Director

 

New Yorkers Against Fracking

Mark Ruffalo, Advisory Board Member

 

New Yorkers for Clean Power

Betta Broad, Director

 

Sane Energy Project

Kim Fraczek, Director

 

Shaleshock CNY

Alexis Joseph Flynn, Member

 

Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter

Roger Downs, Conservation Director

 

Sustainable Hudson Valley

Melissa Everett, Executive Director

 

Western NY Environmental Alliance

Lynda Schneekloth, Chair