Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Of Solar Farms and Snowballs

There were fourteen items on the agenda for last night's Conservation Advisory Council meeting, but only one topic was discussed: the solar farm being considered for North Bay. At one point, Common Council president Tom DePietro told the CAC, "The common fear is that these things snowball, and no one can stop them. That's not going to happen." To this observer, it seems it has already happened.

The notion of building a solar farm within the two square miles of Hudson started out as an idea for monetizing unused and otherwise unusable City-owned land. The original idea was to have a solar company install solar panels on a specific parcel north of Charles Williams Park and make lease payments to the City for the use of the land, thus creating a new source of revenue for the City. That was back in February.  

Now, ten months later, there have been three responses to the City's request for expressions of interest (RFEI), all three of which have their eye of the capped landfill, which was not the intended parcel, is not owned by the City of Hudson, and is a significant habitat for rare species and an important open space for the residents of Hudson. It seems time to step back and ask why are we doing this?

Is it to create revenue for the City of Hudson? Despite the fact that it is located in Hudson, the landfill belongs to Columbia County, and revenue from a solar farm would go to the County not the City. To get any financial benefit from the solar farm, the City would have to work out some sort of revenue sharing agreement with the County.

Is it to provide a lower cost, renewable energy alternative for the residents of Hudson? Last night, Michael O'Hara, who serves on the CAC and chairs the Columbia County Environmental Management Council, said that Columbia County is "looking at community solar that would cover the entire county." According O'Hara, the plan is already in the works, and Hudson residents can participate.

Is it to enable the City to complete another Climate Smart Communities action and earn some more points? O'Hara asserted that the community solar project being pursued by the County would be sufficient to do that.

Although it is unclear precisely why the plan to establish a solar farm in North Bay is being pursued, Peter Bujanow, commissioner of Public Works, said he was going to set up a meeting with the County Solid Waste Department, which has responsibility for the landfill, and the county attorney to discuss "what the sharing agreement would be." He later said he wanted to "meet with the County and get the OK to move forward." He also said he wanted the Common Council to discuss the solar project at its informal meeting on Monday, December 13, and "give the go-ahead for the RFP [request for proposals]." First Ward supervisor Sarah Sterling, who has worked to preserve the landfill as a bobolink habitat and fought back a plan to install solar panels on the landfill proposed by the County in 2016, cautioned, "The assumption when you do an RFP is that you want to do this."

One wonders about Bujanow's zeal to move this forward.
COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK

11 comments:

  1. Sneaky Pete, the duplicitous one, the Hudson DPW "commissioner" from Kinderhook who doesn't give a crap about Hudson. RUN him outta town, let him find a landfill in Kinderhook to play with. Who the hell made him our so-called commissioner anyway? Who thought he would act in Hudson's best interest as opposed to the County machine's best interest?
    No more commissioners from outside of Hudson, period. The embezzler HPD commish from Chatham was a disgrace, now this sneaky Pete. It's all so ridiculous. Why do we even have a CAC if Tom the CC king Depietro and Sneaky Pete are going to just ignore their recommendations? Because Hudson City Hall is becoming more autocratic and LESS transparent and democratic by the day. That's why.
    B Huston

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    1. I've spoken to several people attached to both Troy and Albany municipal governments, as well as a couple people from a development entity tied to NYS. Hudson has become something of a joke in the Capital Region in the last couple of years.

      Hudson is a touchstone location in both the Hudson Valley and the Capital Region, and onlookers are left slack-jawed at the way incompetent management and performative antics have left it hobbling.

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    2. John, you can't be surprised that the three-ring circus has been recognized for what it is. We're all lucky that the dearth of experience, business acumen and leadership hasn't killed the golden egg-laying goose. I've been building my life here for the last 20 years and have invested pretty much everything I have here. Let's hope we can make it through the next two years without our government destroying all that Hudson has become, and all that so many of us have worked so hard to build.

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  2. I'm seeing way too many solar installations popping up on beautiful open land, where it's quick and cheap and easy for the developer. Why isn't NY state prioritizing blighted sites for solar?

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  3. The North Bay site in the Coastal Zone, so it seems likely that NY Dep't of State will have something to say about the appropriateness (or lack thereof) of siting panels right along the riverbank.

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  4. Solar panels on every rooftop in Hudson is a great idea. A city owned solar farm on city land that reduces the electric rates of people in Hudson, that would be a great idea. Leasing land to a utility company for a few bucks so they can sell electricity? Stupid.

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  5. This is what happens when people with no management skills or experience are put in charge of projects: the projects manage the “managers” — completely backwards. Tommy DiPietro has the management skills of roadkill and the experience of a newborn. Thus Bujanow is able to ride roughshod over Tommy in the former’s never ending drive to just build things. He doesn’t care what the “whys” or “how’s” are — he just likes to build things.

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  6. Jolene Race, the director of the County Solid Waste Dept, has to deal with the ongoing issues at long-closed county dumps, of which, I believe, there are at least 3, including ours on 2nd street. The person making sure the county's garbage and recycling keeps moving and doesn't get too costly, that 9 transfer stations are run properly and efficiently, among many other duties, she has to deal with the leaking dumps? Is it any wonder that the Greenport Transfer station is a pothole-filled, poorly organized, litter-filled mess that has needed a complete redo for years? B Huston

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  7. B Huston is right about the recycling center on Newman Rd. There is litter everywhere, the place is a poorly-managed mess. Meanwhile, there are always 3 or 4 guys hanging around the administration shed, bullshitting and doing nothing about the blight all around them.

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    1. go to the greene county transfer station in Athens. Like night and day, a pleasure over there. Resident garbage and recycling AT THE SAME SPOT, no need for two stops! No backing into a spot next to an enormous pile of scrap metal. Imagine that. CC makes them look like geniuses over there. B huston

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