Ag Policy Roundup: New York Says Yes to Onions, No to Funding Solar on Farms
New York: Solar Siting Bill Advances
The Agriculture Committee on May 7 approved a bill that would prevent state funding from supporting commercial solar farms on farmland or sensitive environmental areas.
Committee Chair Michelle Hinchey, D-Ulster, said her bill changes funding opportunities for solar fields but not the permitting process.
“I believe we need renewable energy and we need solar development, but we need to be thoughtful and strategic about where we place them,” Hinchey said.
The bill doesn’t address concerns from Sen. George Borrello, R-Chautauqua, that the Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission has too much power to approve solar projects despite other regulations and local opposition.
But he said the bill would cut off the funding solar companies need to make their projects profitable.
“These people are not in the energy business,” Borrello said. “They’re in the government subsidy business.”
The proposed funding ban would not apply to agrivoltaic projects, in which solar arrays are designed to accommodate or complement farming.
The bill was forwarded to the Energy Committee.
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