{"id":213961,"date":"2025-09-09T22:37:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T22:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/213961\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T22:37:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T22:37:10","slug":"rural-ny-bears-the-burden-of-states-clean-energy-goals-county-executive-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/213961\/","title":{"rendered":"Rural NY bears the burden of state’s clean energy goals, county executive says"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, N.Y. (WRGB)\u2014 As New York pushes to meet its ambitious clean energy goals, some rural communities say they\u2019re being left to shoulder the burden.<\/p>\n

Nearly 10,000 acres of farmland in Montgomery County could soon be transformed into industrial-scale solar fields.<\/p>\n

Montgomery County Executive Peter Vroman is sounding the alarm, warning that the state\u2019s approach to renewable energy is coming at the expense of rural heritage, farmland and community control.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge portion of our county,\u201d Vroman said.<\/p>\n

Despite a majority of residents opposing the large-scale projects, he fears their concerns aren’t given any weight by the state as they press ahead to meet its clean energy goals. New York State is aiming to run on 100-percent clean energy by 2040. <\/p>\n

“It doesn’t seem like they’re getting the message,” said Vroman, to CBS6’s Briana Supardi<\/a>. “The lack of local control here too is an issue as well because, out here, you always had your local officials and they could help you determine your land or your property usage It doesn’t seem like that’s happening anymore<\/p>\n

In an op-ed published Monday \u2014 the same day a 250-megawatt solar project cleared a hurdle after a state administrative law judge ruled in favor of the developers \u2014 Vroman argued this isn\u2019t about being anti-solar, but about fairness.<\/p>\n

He said rural counties like his are being treated as \u201ceasy targets\u201d because of their open land and proximity to the power grid. While leasing land to solar developers can provide struggling farmers with steady income, Vroman said those individual decisions carry long-term consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m for property owners\u2019 rights,\u201d Vroman said. \u201cI just don\u2019t think we need something that is tens of thousands of acres.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that once large solar projects are built, land is essentially frozen \u2014 preventing new homes, future farming or community growth.<\/p>\n

Vroman also noted that residents, with the exception of the landowners, may see little direct benefit since the electricity generated will go to the main power grid.<\/p>\n

Instead, he suggested solar should be built in more practical locations, such as along highway medians, on landfills, warehouse rooftops or over outdoor parking lots.<\/p>\n

The Office of Renewable Energy Siting, the state agency responsible for reviewing large-scale projects, said permits are only issued after a thorough, timely and transparent review process that includes public hearings and comment periods. The agency said its staff regularly meets with host municipalities to inform officials and citizens on how to participate in the siting process effectively.<\/p>\n

Though the agency states community input is a large part of the permit process, Vroman feels residents\u2019 concerns fall on deaf ears, with the state moving forward with the project whether nearby residents like it or not.<\/p>\n

Vroman maintains that rural communities deserve a stronger voice in New York\u2019s clean energy transition, arguing that the push to meet statewide goals shouldn\u2019t come at the expense of farmland and small-town character.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTGOMERY COUNTY, N.Y. (WRGB)\u2014 As New York pushes to meet its ambitious clean energy goals, some rural communities…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":213962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,854,3424,110732,9631,405,403,17050,5226,5225,5228,5227,117033,59183,23913,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-213961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-clean-energy","10":"tag-farmland","11":"tag-local-control","12":"tag-montgomery-county","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-new-york-state","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-peter-vroman","21":"tag-rural-communities","22":"tag-solar-projects","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-united-states-of-america","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115176737588871227","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}