Residents urge turnout at state hearings on proposed large-scale solar projects in Montgomery County

Speakers at the start of the Montgomery County Legislature meeting urged elected officials and residents to attend state hearings this week on proposed large-scale solar projects that would be sited in the Mohawk Watershed.

Steve Collin, a Montgomery County resident and identified in the transcript as co-chair and president of a local land-management group, said the county is being targeted for roughly 1.25 gigawatts of solar generation and that most proposed sites are large-scale facilities on active farmland. "We're actually targeted for 1 and a quarter gigawatts of facilities," Collin said, and he urged officials to attend a public statement hearing the following night to emphasize that "our laws matter, our town laws matter." He told legislators the county is unique in being entirely inside the Mohawk Watershed and displayed a map of existing and proposed facilities.

Susan Mallory of Sprakers told the legislature that about 25% of the state's clean-energy siting goals are currently allocated to land in Montgomery County and that most proposals are sited on active farmland on the south side of the river. "Almost all of these goals are sited on active farmland, and it's a very small percentage of the population that's gonna benefit from these," Mallory said, urging residents and officials to attend hearings to hear the fuller picture rather than relying on news coverage.

Both speakers emphasized that many of the largest projects are intended for export rather than local consumption, and they urged attendance at the stated local public statement hearings to press municipal and county land-use preferences before state permitting decisions move forward.

No formal action on solar siting or county-level policy was taken at the meeting; public comment was recorded but the legislature's business portion proceeded to communications and an extended slate of resolutions.