New York is strong-arming 18 industrial-scale solar power plants into rural communities across the state despite strong opposition from locals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Schuylerville farmer Alexandra Fasulo had just settled into the idyllic acreage she purchased in 2023 when Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s bulldozers came roaring in, poised to thrash 1,800 acres of protected grassland to build a 100-megawatt-capacity solar energy complex in nearby Fort Edward, NY.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were like serfs coming before a king. It was so much worse than I ever imagined,\u201d Schuylerville farmer Alexandra Fasulo told The Post. Alexandra Fasulo<\/p>\n
The footprint of the massive, 1,800-acre Fort Edward solar power plant in upstate New York. Local feel helpless and infuriated as the state squashes any dissent on the massive, wildlife-killing green energy plant. Alexandra Fasulo<\/p>\n
Worried that chemical runoff and contamination may affect her farm, Fasulo attended a town meeting last fall to voice concerns to developers and state authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were like serfs coming before a king. It was so much worse than I ever imagined,\u201d Fasulo, 33, told The Post.<\/p>\n
Canadian company Boralex has gobbled up clean energy contracts across the state. Its latest project is a 100MW-capacity solar farm in idyllic Fort Edward, NY. Alexandra Fasulo<\/p>\n
The Fort Edward site (above) is a wildlife preserve and bird habitat home to the endangered short-eared owl and the threatened norther harrier. Alexandra Fasulo<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was nearly unanimous opposition to this project. So, I thought it wouldn\u2019t go through. That\u2019s how representative democracy works, right? Wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
New York\u2019s green energy mandate went into effect with 2019\u2019s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which requires 70 percent of statewide electricity to come from \u201crenewable\u201d sources; a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels; and at least 3,000 megawatts of energy storage capacity.<\/p>\n
All this is supposed to happen by the year 2030<\/a> \u2014 but the deadline keeps getting pushed back.<\/p>\n To accomplish her Herculean green feat, Hochul set up the Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission (ORES) \u2014 an agency charged with getting the projects rammed through by cutting red tape, torching environmental impact reports and squashing local pushback.<\/p>\n New York Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission was established to ram through green energy projects by cutting red tape, torching environmental impact reports and squashing local pushback Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n The Fort Edwards site, in red, is in the middle of a state-recognized wildlife sanctuary. Grassland Bird Trust\/ American Land Rescue Fund<\/p>\n Each of the 18 sites ORES has selected will have a capacity over 25 megawatts. The agency also has an additional dozen wind projects in the works.<\/p>\n Some of the largest projects are the 4,000-acre (6.25-square-mile), 500-megawatt Cider Solar Farm in Genesee County and the 2,000-acre (3.1-square-mile) Ridge View Solar Farm in Niagara County, as shown on The Post\u2019s map.<\/p>\n To add insult to injury, many of the multibillion-dollar solar contracts have been farmed out to foreign companies \u2014 including Canada\u2019s Boralex, France\u2019s EDF Renewables, and South Korea\u2019s Cypress Creek Renewables, The Post has found.\u00a0<\/p>\n Forests across the state are being clear-cut for vast solar fields while environmental groups remain silent. MaxSafaniuk \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n Studies show actual energy output will be about 15 percent of total capacity for each plant in upstate New York, given the gloomy climate.\u00a0 Stephen Davies \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n The sweeping fields of shimmering panels will generate only a \u201cpathetic\u201d amount of electricity in cold, cloudy upstate New York, Fasulo claims.<\/p>\n Critics point out that while sites like Fort Edwards are billed as 100-megawatt power plants, studies like those from the New York Independent System Operator show actual output will be about 15 percent<\/a> of that number, given the gloomy climate.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even with relentless sunshine, solar power plants have proved ineffective and burdensome. California\u2019s\u00a0$2.2 billion Ivanpah Solar Power Facility<\/a>\u00a0in the Mojave Desert is set to close this year after only a decade in operation, citing inefficiency and outdated tech.<\/p>\n The bucolic village of Copake, NY, is preparing for an onslaught of earthmovers and dump trucks as the state is forcing a colossal solar energy plant onto local residents \u2014 who say it will forever change their rural community. Kyle Tunis \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n The village of Canajoharie, NY, in Montgomery County is bracing for Big Solar. The county is suing ORES, claiming \u201cunlawful\u201d permitting process. Houston Chronicle via Getty Images<\/p>\n Locals battling the projects told The Post that solar panels are easily damaged in storms, need to be replaced every 15 years and create no local jobs.<\/p>\n Taking on ORES has turned into a Kafkaesque nightmare, said Fasulo.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a shadow agency. They don\u2019t pick up the phone. They don\u2019t answer emails. You can\u2019t make a physical appointment with them.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement to The Post, an ORES spokeswoman said, \u201cThe staff at ORES take their responsibility for permitting these energy resources very seriously, including incorporating critical input from communities, and are focused on ensuring the best outcome for New York State consumers in every decision that comes before ORES.\u201d<\/p>\n After her FOIL request for the environmental impact report came back heavily redacted, Fasulo commissioned her own report. Alexandra Fasulo<\/p>\n Fasulo shows off entire pages of redacted texts from the ORES environmental impact report on the Fort Edwards solar power plant. \u201cIt looked like the Epstein files,\u201d she told The Post. Alexandra Fasulo<\/p>\n Fed up, Fasulo used the Freedom of Information Law to obtain the agency\u2019s local wildlife impact report for the Fort Edward site and was flabbergasted at what came back.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was so heavily redacted it looked like the Epstein files,\u201d she said, referencing heavily amended portions of the millions of files released by the federal government on pervert financier Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n It led her to commission her own report from conservation nonprofit Hudsonia.<\/p>\n The protected grassland bird habitat site of the Fort Edwards solar power plant that will be an 1,800-acre, 100-megawatt capacity project. Alexandra Fasulo<\/p>\n A hawk soars in the Fort Edwards Wildlife Management Area. The species impacted by the development include the endangered short-eared owl (fewer than 50 breeding pairs remain in the state, per the Grassland Bird Trust), the threatened northern harrier and 15 species of reptiles and amphibians of \u201cconservation concern,\u201d among many others. Alexandra Fasulo<\/p>\n That report, reviewed by The Post, shows the Fort Edwards site sits inside a NYS Department of Environmental Conservation-managed grassland and bird sanctuary \u201cwell known for high species diversity of breeding grassland birds and important numbers of wintering raptors including an Endangered and a Threatened species,\u201d the report stated.<\/p>\n The species impacted by the development include the endangered short-eared owl (fewer than 50 breeding pairs remain in the state,\u00a0per the Grassland Bird Trust<\/a>), the threatened northern harrier and 15 species of reptiles and amphibians of \u201cconservation concern,\u201d among many others.<\/p>\n A hundred miles south in the bucolic Hudson Valley town of Copake, local resident Sara Traberman has made fighting Big Solar her full-time job. Chicago-based developer Hecate Energy scooped up over 700 acres of productive farmland to install a planned 42-megawatt-capacity solar facility, expected to go online late next year.<\/p>\n Signs around the Fort Edward Wildlife Management Area call attention to the local bird population. Alexandra Fasulo<\/p>\n The sweeping fields of shimmering, toxic panels will generate only a \u201cpathetic\u201d amount of electricity in cold, cloudy upstate New York, Fasulo claims. Alexandra Fasulo<\/p>\n Locals were told to expect two years of nonstop construction where 547 dump trucks and 10 pile drivers along with numerous cranes and excavators will swarm the picturesque hamlet from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. \u2014 seven days a week.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about changing the character of this town. It\u2019s a rural, farming community. We just ask that the rules of the town and the view of what the people want for where they live is respected,\u201d Traberman told The Post.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to impact tourism, local traffic, the schools. It\u2019s going to be horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n An assessment by NYS Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation found the solar plant also will have an adverse impact on five historic and cultural sites in the area, with viewsheds decimated by a sea of gleaming silicon.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to impact tourism, local traffic, the schools. It\u2019s going to be horrible,\u201d Copake resident Sara Traberman told The Post. Tyler A. McNeil \/ Wikipedia<\/p>\n \u201cThere was nearly unanimous opposition to this project. So, I thought it wouldn\u2019t go through. That\u2019s how representative democracy works, right? Wrong,\u201d farmer-turned-activist Fasulo said. Alexandra Fasulo<\/p>\n \u201c[CLCPA] was a nice idea but it was put in place by ideologues. It wasn\u2019t thought through properly and has these timelines that everyone has now acknowledged are not feasible. A cost assessment was never done. And where\u2019s the energy going? We don\u2019t know,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n The state claims solar energy is necessary to thwart the critical, statewide emergency of \u201cclimate change<\/a>.\u201d While Article IX of the New York state constitution grants local authorities power to legislate land use, the Hochul administration has argued the state has a substantial interest in selling it off to green energy developers.<\/p>\n Award-winning Princeton University physicist William Happer claimed to The Post that the supposed climate emergency was \u201cnon-existent\u201d and long disproven, adding that the solar scheme was \u201cdesigned to keep politicians fat and happy.\u201d<\/p>\n Princeton University physicist William Happer told The Post the supposed climate emergency was \u201cnon-existent\u201d and long disproven, adding that the solar scheme was \u201cdesigned to keep politicians fat and happy.\u201d William Happer<\/p>\n Montgomery County Attorney Meghan Manion said her litigation against the state challenges \u201cthe grossly unlawful actions of ORES,\u201d which \u201cdeviated from lawful procedure by choosing not to follow their own regulations in granting these [solar] permits.\u201d Meghan Manion<\/p>\n \u201cThe public has been brainwashed,\u201d Happer said. \u201cThere\u2019s no evidence whatsoever of a climate emergency. There\u2019s been no change in frequency<\/a> of extreme weather. The sea level rise in New York is on the order of 2 millimeters per year, about the same as it\u2019s been for the last two centuries.\u201d<\/p>\n He claimed the climate scare is purely profit-driven. \u201cIt\u2019s just the latest protection racket,\u201d he alleged.<\/p>\n