Gov. Andrew Cuomo deserves credit for his handling (so far) of the coronavirus pandemic. But not so for his push to eliminate residents’ ability to decide for themselves if they want industrial-scale wind and solar projects in their towns.
Upstate communities that don’t want such projects blighting their communities have a legal right to veto them. But Cuomo intends to bulldoze through those rights in the name of a climate-change “emergency.”
This clash has been a long time coming. Since 2014, the governor has waged war against hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the technology that has unleashed an energy renaissance of jobs and cheap natural gas.
Last year, Cuomo pushed even further with his green agenda.
Under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, passed and signed last year, the state must obtain 70 percent of its electricity from green sources by 2030 and 100 percent by 2040.
And by 2050, the state must achieve “net-zero” emissions for everything — electricity, motor vehicles, industry, you name it.
Those are daunting benchmarks. Replacing all of the non-electric fossil-fuel use with wind and solar power will be a Herculean task, not only in terms of the rate at which those renewable resources will have to be developed but also the amount of land it will require.
Hence, this battle with localities.
Upstate New York already is home to most of the existing and proposed wind and solar development — and opposition to that development.
Many upstaters are unhappy about the impact that 500- to 650-foot-tall wind turbines and hundreds of acres of solar panels will have on their communities.
For example, local opposition led developer Apex Energy to withdraw its application for the Lighthouse Wind project last year.
The project would have constructed 600-foot tall wind turbines along the shore of Lake Ontario near the towns of Somerset and Yates.
In 2018, the town of Hopkinton voted to block wind development, leading to the cancellation of the proposed North Ridge wind farm.
New York is one of 41 states with some form of “home rule.” In these states, local communities have the right to establish their own zoning requirements and conditions for development. Some New York communities have welcomed wind and solar; others haven’t.
Cuomo intends to crush local, home-rule-based opposition. Under the guise of the state’s budgeting process, he intends to declare an “emergency” that will allow him to revamp the process for approving green-energy projects.
To wit, the projects are to be fast-tracked, with no regard for local opinion. The state will also acquire needed land, build the necessary infrastructure, including transmission lines, and hand it all over to developers.
Property taxes on these developments will no longer be determined locally. Instead, they will be set based on the state’s projections of future revenues from these projects, which will be paid to towns in lieu of property taxes they would otherwise collect.
There will be a two-tiered property tax system: one for local residents and businesses, and a second, more favorable one, for green developers.
The governor’s proposal will prohibit any town from requiring developers to obtain any approvals or meet any locally imposed conditions for development, operation and eventual decommissioning.
Conceivably, with the blessing of the state, a wind developer could build a 650-foot tall wind turbine next to an elementary school and, at the end of that turbine’s life, simply walk away and force the locals to clean up the mess.
And if a town objects? The state can — and surely will — respond with the legal equivalent of an extended middle finger.
Under the proposal circulating in Albany, the only acceptable reason to derail a green energy project is if it will have a “substantive or significant” adverse impact.
Local opposition, however, “shall not be considered to be substantive or significant.”
The question, of course, is what would constitute a “substantive or significant” objection to building wind turbines and thousands of acres of solar panels near small communities?
Would concerns over decreased property values count? Losses of endangered species? Loss of property-tax revenues? Reductions in tourism revenues or lower agricultural yields?
Because the Office of Renewable Energy will serve as both judge and jury, the answer is: probably not.
None of these actions will have any measurable impact on global climate. All they will do is raise New York’s already high costs of energy, stifle economic growth and stoke locals’ resentment against environmental activists.
Read more at NY Post
And remember, he’s not running for president.
Maybe everyone who is now enjoying a 30 DAY FREE TRIAL of SOCIALISM with empty store shelves and the government telling people when they can leave their homes and where they can go courtesy of the “Chi-Com Kung Flu Manchu Biological Warfare Weapon Worldwide Attack” just might change their minds about wanting this same lifestyle forced on them for good by these costly and inefficient ecology-destroying monstrosities and instead want to return to the prosperity and abundance we had under free market capitalism.
There was a guy at the steel mill where I worked, I’ll call him Bob M. Clever man, Bob M. He saved the company million$ . He climbed the corporate ladder fast. He was always two steps ahead of damage. When the gig was up, he took the golden parachute.
Here’s my connection. Gov Cuomo is looking golden and replaces Biden at the Democrat leadership convention.
New York is his stepping stone.
The tactic used by the environmental left should be used here. Tie up the green projects with multiple law suits. Unlike the law suits against fossil fuel energy which are frivolous most of the time, up state New Yorkers have legitimate claims. They should start with the declaration of emergency isn’t based on valid facts.
Randy, you are right that storage technology to support an electric grid doesn’t exist and of course the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine. California has managed this issue by buying power from neighboring states. If New York’s neighbors are not as stupid as New York, then they could do the same. Such purchases of power are normally done at a very high cost placing addition burden on the rate payers.
Ontario is a neighbor of New York.
We have been paying NY to absorb our surplus electricity. Look elsewhere for ‘smart’.
Although I certainly admire Governor Cuomo’s ongoing COVID-19 response, he is completely WRONG on his approach to energy transition. For openers, electricity currently accounts (on average) for only 20% of primary energy. This entire initiative fails to account for transportation fuels, industrial heat, commercial & residential & finished products produced from fossil fuels which currently have NOTHING to do with intermittent wind & solar generated electricity. Without sufficient battery storage anywhere near in the future, what does the Governor suppose will “back up” those renewables? It won’t be natural gas as his Dept. of Environmental Quality has used Sec. 401 Water Certification denials as a means to BLOCK four interstate pipelines across New York that are needed to supply growing demand in New England to keep the electric grid stable & electricity prices from further skyrocketing. This is a “Hosue of cards.” The ONLY reason that entire region did not have significant natural gas curtailments & rolling black outs this winter is the MILD weather. DUMB LUCK is not a plan. A guy like Cuomo who is adept in emergency management should understand this. I’d suggest the facts on the ground & short sighted strategy driven by blind ideology will ultimately prove a very unsatisfactory chapter as this eventually unravels..,.
On the basis of ‘no new pipelines’, a gas supply outfit notified potential customers that they wouldn’t be served. The Governor ordered the gas company to supply these people. They did – by trucking gas into the area. Now there’s a great way to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
I am all for that. Put these ugly things close to the “upscale communities” as many as possible. Who’s living in these communities? They are all leftists green deal lunatics. They are the ones who elected communists De Blasio and Cuomo. They are donating only to democrats/fascists. So let them have it.
Musician Sarah Harmer, a far-lefty, organized against a wind farm visible from her aerie on the Scarborough bluffs. She won.
These greens are really the scum of the planet.. really..
Burn these windmills down!
Thermite.
This is what you get from electing a liberal Democrat to Govenor you get some cheap petty tyrant and a little Hitler/Stalin or Mao Democrats should never be elected ti runs Country,State,County or City