Senator O'Mara's weekly column 'From the Capitol' -- for the week of July 6, 2026 -- 'NY's fast-tracked siting of solar panels raising alarms'

When the RAPID Act was first approved, we voiced our opposition that the new, fast-tracked, state-dictated process would overrule local zoning, unreasonably expand eminent domain, jeopardize natural resources and farmland, and undermine local control and the will of local residents and communities. Those concerns have been shared by many local leaders and continue to be raised throughout the state, particularly over the loss of prime agricultural land to solar developers.

Senator O'Mara offers his weekly perspective on many of the key challenges and issues facing the Legislature, as well as on legislative actions, local initiatives, state programs and policies, and more.  Stop back every Monday for Senator O'Mara's latest column...

This week, "NY's fast-tracked siting of solar panels raising alarms"

One of the most noteworthy developments coming out of Albany in the past few weeks has been the news of an effort by top federal officials, including United States Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, scrutinizing New York State’s approach to siting solar energy projects on agricultural land, particularly prime upstate farmland.

From the June 26^th federal letter to Governor Kathy Hochul, “Prime farmland, once converted to industrial-scale energy development, may experience long-term changes to soil function, drainage, and agricultural productivity that can be difficult and costly to reverse. And solar panels improperly discarded in municipal landfills can leach heavy metals into the same soil and groundwater that New York’s farms and communities depend on. Both problems are being driven by the same rush to site and approve projects without fully accounting for their long-term costs – costs that, as currently structured, fall on landowners, rural communities, and taxpayers rather than on the developers and foreign manufacturers who profit.”

It’s a concern – many see it as a crisis in the making – gaining widespread momentum in communities regionally and statewide.

It’s a concern that’s been raised, repeatedly, by the Senate and Assembly Republican Conferences over the past few years in legislative committee meetings, public hearings, and during floor debates.

What should be a big red flag to everyone is the solar industry's opposition to environmental stewardship for proper reclamation and recycling of worn-out panels. In 2018, when I was still Chairman of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, the Senate unanimously passed my legislation, called the “Solar Panel Collection Act,” which would have required the industry to set up a program for recycling waste panels, similar to what we did very successfully with paint stewardship and soon-to-be carpet stewardship. The industry balked in 2018, the Assembly didn’t pass it, and since the Democrats took a majority in the Senate my bill, while still pending (S1502), hasn’t ever again seen the light of day (Read more: https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/articles/2018/thomas-f-omara/senate-unanimously-approves-omaras-solar-panel-collection-act).

 Earlier this year, I joined Senate colleagues in a letter to the state’s Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission (ORES) requesting comprehensive information on wind, solar, battery energy storage, and other renewable energy projects “currently under review, pending approval, or anticipated for approval…particularly those with the potential to affect protected lands, environmentally sensitive areas, and regulated agricultural resources across New York State.”

Our letter to ORES in April read, in part, “We welcome this opportunity to follow up on a recent request from our colleagues in the Assembly Republican conference, as well as on behalf of residents, local governments, and environmental stakeholders throughout the regions we represent and across the state, to raise similar concerns regarding project approvals that appear to conflict with established environmental standards, particularly in relation to the siting of solar facilities on productive farmland and development near sensitive wildlife habitats… Given the breadth of ORES authority, including its ability to supersede determinations made by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) as well as local zoning and land-use laws, it is essential that its actions reflect a high standard of transparency, consistency, and adherence to established environmental protections and home rule doctrines.”

In other words, the current federal effort seeking accountability and transparency from the Hochul administration reflects concerns shared by many at the state and local levels of government in this state, as well as among farm advocates throughout New York.

We’re hopeful that federal support will help us make some headway in forcing renewed accountability and transparency from ORES, a state agency whose actions are viewed with increasing suspicion.

Governor Hochul and Albany Democrats have given ORES broad authority over the siting of wind, solar, and other renewable energy projects. This authority includes the power to overrule local decision-making, which has raised alarms among local residents, local governments, and local environmental stakeholders, particularly in rural, upstate New York regions where many of these projects are being sited. It’s critically important that ORES is fully accountable and transparent, and that its actions remain fully in line with strict environmental standards, sensitive to local concerns, and don’t put at risk prime agricultural land and other natural resources.

ORES was created under the “Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act” (CLCPA), approved by Democrats in 2019, to oversee the review and approval of renewable energy projects statewide. In 2024, Governor Hochul and the Democrat-led Legislature enacted a new law known as the “Renewable Action through Project Interconnection and Deployment (RAPID) Act” authorizing ORES to effectively streamline the siting permit review process. The stated goal of the RAPID Act was to “balance transparency with environmental protection and the need for fast decision making, while continuing to be responsive to community feedback.” Late last year, ORES issued revised regulations “for the environmental review, permitting, and siting of major renewable energy facilities and major electric transmission facilities.”

When the RAPID Act was first approved, Senate and Assembly Republicans voiced our opposition that the new, fast-tracked, state-dictated process would overrule local zoning, unreasonably expand eminent domain, jeopardize natural resources and farmland, and undermine local control and the will of local residents and communities. Those concerns have been shared by many local leaders and continue to be raised throughout the state, particularly over the loss of prime agricultural land to solar developers.

Consequently, the Senate Republican Conference letter in April concluded, “Let us be clear: this request is not intended to oppose energy development. New York State must continue to advance innovation and diversify its energy portfolio responsibly. However, these efforts must not come at the expense of the very natural and agricultural resources that our environmental laws are designed to protect, or at the will of the citizens who will live next door to these projects. Ensuring that renewable energy development proceeds in a manner consistent with environmental stewardship, transparency, and public trust is of paramount importance.”

Federal officials clearly share similar priorities and have now joined our quest for answers, for accountability, and for transparency.

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