In 2020 New York State formed the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) to further expedite the process for siting large renewable energy facilities. Implementing legislation can be found here. In general, the new process is less transparent than the Article 10 process it replaces, does away with pre-application scoping and mandatory public involvement programs, and places new and substantial barriers to party status and adjudication of issues.

Just recently, ORES began posting links to DMM dockets for “transfer applications” it has received from projects formerly in the Article 10 process, but which now seek to benefit from the more profitable, and less protective environmental standards, built in to the ORES process. Links to dockets for the three active transfer applications are available here, and include Heritage Wind, Riverhead Solar 2, and The Morris Ridge Solar project.

I find this development concerning because the ORES regulatory process does not yet exist. ORES only recently published draft procedural regulations, and draft uniform standards and conditions.

ORES received thousands of pages of highly critical commentary on both sets of regulations. ORES has not yet adopted procedural regulations, which means there are no rules governing application contents, application review, or adjudication of public and local government concerns. The underlying statute lacks the specificity needed for ORES to actually process an application.

It is also unclear how ORES will publish a draft permit within 60 days of the filing of a transfer application, where the uniform standards and conditions that are required by law to form the basis of any draft ORES permit do not yet exist.

For inquiries about the process for siting large power plants in New York State, please contact Bridget O’Toole. The Zoghlin Group represents individuals, public interest groups, and municipalities in Article 10 proceedings throughout New York State.

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