Town of Copake v. New York State Office of Renewable Energy Siting

Sixteen days after denying a preliminary injunction, a New York trial court issued a second decision dismissing a challenge to New York State Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) regulations setting forth procedural and substantive requirements for major renewable energy facilities. The court found that ORES fulfilled its obligations under the State Environmental Quality Review Act when it issued a negative declaration for the regulations, and rejected other claims raised by the petitioners.

A New York State Supreme Court denied a motion for a preliminary injunction barring the New York State Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) from implementing regulations that set forth procedural and substantive requirements for permit applications for major renewable energy facilities. Under the Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Benefit Act, such facilities are exempt from the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), and ORES has authority to waive local laws. The court found that there was little likelihood that the petitioners challenging the regulations—which included a number of towns and bird conservation organizations—would succeed on the merits of their claims that adoption of the regulations violated SEQRA. The court also found that the record did not support a finding of irreparable harm in the absence of specific project approvals and that the equities did not balance in the petitioners’ favor, “for it is manifest that development of major renewable energy facilities based on wind and solar resources to provide electrical generation is a reasoned means to combat climate change, and wholly compatible with the public interest to ‘protect the environment for the use and enjoyment of this and all future generations.’”