Nothing was said Wednesday that hadn’t been said before.
But this time, opponents to Rock District Solar had a chance to say it to the state.
In the next step for the proposed project off Brown Road in the Towns of Carlisle and Seward, about 50 neighbors filled a small room at the Quality Inn & Suites to make their case to ORES Office of Hearings Administrative Law Judge Dawn MacKillop-Soller.
Approval for the 20-MW project could come as soon as December.
Carlisle and Seward hopes it comes…never.
Judge MacKillop-Soller told the crowd it wasn’t a Q&A session, but “an opportunity to speak to us.”
Their comments, and nearly 100 documents filed online with ORES–the Office of Renewable Energy Siting–will be considered in determining whether the state permits the 370-acre project and whether concerns over things like water and traffic can be mitigated if it does.
Carlisle Supervisor John Leavitt was the first to take the mic, pointing out that when Cypress Creek Renewables first proposed it “we were promised a project we could be proud of” with host community benefits and a PILOT.
“Promises that never materialized,” Mr. Leavitt said, because when the developers learned it was unlikely to be approved by the Seward Planning Board, they moved it from local to state review.
“The loss of home rule is unacceptable,” he said; for neighbors, who will see their view destroyed and their property values plummet, “their lives will never be the same.”
Like Mr. Leavitt, Blenheim Supervisor Don Airey, who chairs supervisors’ Energy and Flood Committees, said Cypress Creek’s promises to pay a fair tax rate in a “win-win for all involved turned out to be a ruse.
“Lives, property values, hopes and dreams…New York State has made it clear it doesn’t care,” Mr. Airey said. “Consider carefully…the consequences of your decision will be immense.”
In some of the hearing’s most damning testimony, Lenny Prezorski of Lawyersville, who formerly worked for the USDA and on some of the properties on Rock District Road, said the data submitted by Cypress Creek is “full of erroneous data.”
It has the project located in the wrong watershed, completely missing the fact that it will actually drain, unfiltered, into one of the largest limestone cave systems in the United States, he said.
“This is very significant.”
A farmer, Mr. Prezorski also pointed out that the large loss of prime farmland–it’s 80 percent of the project–violates state Ag & Markets’ own recommendation of limiting that loss to 10 percent.
Schoharie County Historian Ted Shuart and Carlisle Historian Chris Keefer both pointed to the loss of unrecovered cemeteries and other archaeological sites.
An avid birder, Ms. Keefer also noted the importance of the New York State Bluebird Trail that’s helped make Carlisle a thriving birding community and something else that will be lost if the project goes ahead.
“I will repeat Don Airey’s words,” she said. “Please respect the will of the people.”
Other speakers, including Citizens Against Solar Arrays’ Bill Toohey, Marjorie Lawston, and Tracey Metz spoke to its potential impact on traffic, their wells, and their Amish neighbors.
Laurie Tyler Cypress said Creek never held the required meetings to explain the process to neighbors.
“We had to sift through the 94-C process ourselves,” she said. “This is a clear violation.”
One of the hearing’s last speakers, Seward Supervisor Earlin Rosa blasted state and national green energy policy–something he hopes voters will keep in mind in November–even as he echoed other speakers’ concerns over lost taxes and community benefits.
“When we met with [Cypress Creek’s] Jeff Davis, he promised us the world,” Mr. Rosa said.
“It didn’t take long for it to go south. Rock District doesn’t care about us. It’s all about making money.”