BILL NUMBER: S9478
SPONSOR: HINCHEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the agriculture and markets law, the public service law
and the real property tax law, in relation to prohibiting incentives for
the siting or operation of commercial renewable energy systems in sensi-
tive environmental areas
 
PURPOSE:
This bill prohibits the state from providing incentives for the siting
of commercial solar farms on land used in agricultural production or in
sensitive environmental areas.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Agriculture and Markets Law 151 to clarify that no
incentives or assistance shall be provided through the agricultural
environmental management program for the siting of commercial solar
farms on land used in agricultural production, although incentives or
assistance for agrovoltaic systems or systems primarily designed for
on-site renewable energy use may be offered.
Section 2 amends the opening paragraph of Agriculture and Markets Law
323 to prohibit the state agricultural and farmland protection program
from providing financial or technical assistance to any commercial
project siting or proposing to site renewable energy projects on land
used in agricultural production, although such financial or technical
assistance may be offered for agrovoltaic systems or systems primarily
designed for on-site energy use.
Section 3 amends Public Service Law 66-p to prohibit the public service
commission from providing incentives like zero emission credits to
commercial solar farms sited on land used in agricultural production,
other than agrovoltaic systems or systems that primarily provide on-site
electricity, or in sensitive environmental areas.
Section 4 amends Real Property Tax Law 487 to add a new subdivision 11
prohibiting property tax exemptions for commercial solar farms sited on
land used in agricultural production, other than agrovoltaic energy
systems or systems that primarily serve to provide on-site electricity,
and prohibiting such tax exemption for solar farms sited in sensitive
environmental areas, such as bird and wildlife sanctuaries.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
New York is losing farmland at an alarming rate. Between 2012 and 2022,
approximately 9% of our total farmland (roughly 365,000 acres) was lost
to commercial and residential development and to solar farms. Some esti-
mates suggest New York could lose over 450,000 acres of farmland by 2040
unless we adopt increased protections.
Solar leases are lucrative, creating tension between renewable energy
goals and food production. Land that leaves agricultural production to
become solar farms suffers irreversible environmental damage from heavy
grading that undermines soil structure, soil compaction from
construction equipment, and chemical leaching from damaged panels, as
well as habitat disruption and fragmentation by creating fenced solar
deserts where hedgerows, woodlots and grasslands formerly supported
wildlife. Additionally, young farmers who wish to find land to buy or
lease must compete with large, global energy corporations snapping up
amble land at high prices.
Prime farmland should be preserved for food production rather than ener-
gy generation; food should not be traded for energy. There are more
appropriate places to site solar arrays near population centers: park-
ing lots, rooftops, brownfields, capped landfills and other property
that is already disrupted with little prospect of returning to a more
natural state.
We are also losing grasslands and other ecologically important habitats
to renewable energy projects. A 567-acre solar project is currently
proposed in the middle of a grassland bird conservation center in Wash-
ington county. The grassland is the overwintering and breeding habitat
of a number of threatened and endangered bird species - once it is
developed, they face extinction or extirpation.
As the state has met its solar energy goals, it should not be in the
business of incentivizing the loss of farmland and precious natural
ecosystems because of our climate goals. Solar farms do not need to be
sited on productive, sensitive habitat. The state should not reward
energy companies for destroying our agricultural and natural resources.
This bill would prohibit the state from providing incentives, like zero
emission credits, to commercial solar farms sited on farmland or in
environmentally sensitive or important habitat.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Minimal.
 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Minimal
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S9478: 151 agriculture and markets law, 323 agriculture and markets law, 66-p public service law, 487 real property tax law, 11-0303 environmental conservation law