Renewable Energy Siting Reform - Let’s Make Progress Now
By Jeff Jones
A diverse coalition of environment and clean energy groups has written to state Senate and Assembly leaders urging negotiation with, and support for, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed power plant siting law reform bill. While there is some resistance within the legislature to adding another important policy reform measure to the current budget negotiations, supporters of the Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth & Community Benefit Act stress the need to move quickly to achieve the aggressive climate goals passed in last year’s legislative session.
The so-called unity letter, dated March 4th, was sent to Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, along with Governor Andrew Cuomo. “Overcoming existing barriers to renewable energy siting, and rapidly advancing large-scale renewable energy projects in New York is critical to decarbonizing New York’s electricity sector by 2040 and achieving the renewable energy targets of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA),” the letter states. Such action is needed to move forward with wind, solar and appropriate transmission investments in the state, the groups say.
The impressive list of those signing the letter includes national organizations like Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and Audubon New York, local and regional economic development groups like the Binghamton Regional Sustainability Council and the Real Estate Board of New York, the environment and climate justice group WeAct for Environmental Justice, and 32Bj, a leading state labor union.
Motivating the consensus is concern about the recognized failure of the state’s existing renewable energy siting law to come anywhere close to the level of success needed to achieve New York’s ambitious climate goals. Indeed, the letter notes that despite signing contracts for over 12.6 million megawatt hours of land-based wind and solar energy with the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA), only five projects in a decade have made it through the permitting process and of those, only one is actually under construction.
The groups urge that environmental protections be strengthened in the new law, especially for endangered species, along with a more structured oversight role for the Department of Environmental Conservation. The bottom line, the groups say, is that the government needs to act. Passing the renewable siting reform law as part of the state budget due by the end of March is the surest way to begin making progress now.
