By RICK MILLER
CattCoNews&Photos
LITTLE VALLEY — The Cattaraugus County Legislature’s Finance Committee is expected to blast state officials Wednesday for approving Part O in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget that deals with alternative energy and new electric transmission lines.
Legislature Chairman Andrew Burr, R-Gowanda and Legislator Ginger Schroder, R-Farmersville are sponsors of the resolution condemning the Renewable Action through Project Interconnect and Deployment (RAPID) Act.
County lawmakers have previously objected to industrial scale wind turbines such as the 600-foot (ground to blade tip) models proposed for the three-county Alle-Catt Wind Farm that includes the towns of Freedom and Farmersville.
The County Legislature has also objected to the route of a transmission line to carry electricity generated by the more than 80 turbines in Cattaraugus, Allegany and Wyoming counties.
The RAPID Act is designed to hasten the approval of controversial alternative energy projects such as wind turbines, large solar farms a nd transmission lines.
The state has set a goal of 70% emission-free energy production by 2030 and zero percent by 2040. The process will be done through the Office of Renewable Energy Siting.
Schroder has been fighting the Alle-Catt project for several years. She and others opposed to the 340-megawatt wind farm have cited the threat to human health to those close to the turbines from noise, infrasound and shadow flicker, as well as damage to the environment and wildlife.
Schroder said the new Part 0 probably won’t help Alle-Catt, because the transmission line has been negotiated with landowners and will not need to rely on seizing property by eminent domain and have state permission for the route.
Burr’s opposition as a cosponsor may stem from an alternative energy company’s interest in the town of Perrysburg, which is in his legislative district.
New Leaf Energy has applied for a 190-foot MET tower to measure wind in the town of Perrysburg, although its application was returned as incomplete last week by the Cattaraugus County Planning Board.
The Perrysburg Town Board in January approved a local law for a temporary moratorium on issuing applications and granting permits on the siting of commercial solar panel power projects, wind turbine projects and battery projects.
Burr and Schroder can be expected to ask other legislators to join as cosponsors and may receive unanimous support.
Streamlining the process of connecting transmission lines to the grid will be done through the state Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES).
The legislators said “the RAPID Act will undermine sound environmental review of major electric transmission facilities by requiring ORES to render a permit decision within a single year, otherwise the facility shall be automatically approved, regardless of project size or impact on private property or conservation lands.”
The RAPID Act will also “constitute a significant deprivation of private property rights by extending the power of eminent domain to the construction of major electric transmission facilities by large-scale solar and wind developers,” the resolution states.
The RAPID Act will also “undermine the protection of natural resources by allowing conservation easements to be extinguished anywhere in the state, including State Parks, for the construction of major electric transmission facilities by large-scale solar and wind developers.”
The legislators said, “The RAPID Act will further erode home rule and local decision making enshrined in the
New York State Constitution, Local Government Bill of Rights, Statute of Local Governments, and Municipal Home Rule law, usurping the rights of local governments to determine how communities and property within their
jurisdictions develop, and contravening the purpose of comprehensive planning.”
The Finance Committee meets at 4:25 p.m. Wednesday in the Large Committee Room on the third floor of the County Center in Little Valley.
If it is approved as expected, the full County Legislature will vote on it May 8.
Turbines from a Chautauqua County wind farm are visible from parts of western Cattaraugus County.
