N.Y. Public Service Law § 142: Application, notice, and review relating to major renewable energy facility siting

* § 142. Application, notice, and review relating to major renewable

energy facility siting. 1. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, ORES

shall, within sixty days of its receipt of an application for a siting

permit with respect to a major renewable energy facility subject to this

article determine whether the application is complete and notify the

applicant of its determination. If ORES does not deem the application

complete, ORES shall set forth in writing delivered to the applicant the

reasons why it has determined the application to be incomplete. If ORES

fails to make a determination within the foregoing sixty-day time

period, the application shall be deemed complete; provided, however,

that the applicant may consent to an extension of the sixty-day time

period for determining application completeness. Provided, further, that

no application may be complete without proof of consultation with the

municipality or political subdivision where the project is proposed to

be located, or an agency thereof, prior to submission of an application

to ORES, related to procedural and substantive requirements of local

law.

2. No later than sixty days following the date upon which an

application has been deemed complete, and following consultation with

any relevant state agency or authority, ORES shall publish for public

comment draft permit conditions prepared by the office, which comment

period shall be for a minimum of sixty days from public notice thereof,

or notice of intent to deny with reasons thereof. Such public notice

shall include, but shall not be limited to: (i) written notice to the

municipalities or political subdivisions in which such project is

proposed to be located; (ii) publication in a newspaper or in electronic

form, having general circulation in such municipalities or political

subdivisions; (iii) posting the notice on the office of renewable energy

siting and electric transmissions and the department's website; and (iv)

written notice to each member of the legislature through whose district

the facility proposed in the application would be located.

3. For any municipality, political subdivision or an agency thereof

that has received notice of the filing of an application, pursuant to

regulations promulgated in accordance with this article, the

municipality or political subdivision or agency thereof shall within the

timeframes established by this subdivision submit a statement to ORES

indicating whether the proposed project is designed to be sited,

constructed and operated in compliance with applicable local laws and

regulations, if any, concerning the environment, or public health and

safety. In the event that a municipality, political subdivision or an

agency thereof submits a statement to ORES that the proposed project is

not designed to be sited, constructed or operated in compliance with

local laws and regulations and ORES determines not to hold an

adjudicatory hearing on the application, ORES shall hold a

non-adjudicatory public hearing in or near one or more of the affected

municipalities or political subdivisions. In any such adjudicatory

hearing, ORES or the department, shall designate members of its staff to

represent the public interest, including with respect to the application

of local and state laws.

4. If public comments on a draft permit condition published by ORES

pursuant to this section, including comments provided by a municipality

or political subdivision or agency thereof, landowners, or members of

the public, raise a substantive and significant issue, as defined in

regulations adopted pursuant to this article, that requires

adjudication, ORES shall promptly fix a date for an adjudicatory hearing

to hear arguments and consider evidence with respect thereto.

5. Following the expiration of the public comment period set forth in

this section, and following the conclusion of a hearing undertaken

pursuant to subdivision four of this section, ORES shall, in the case of

a public comment period, issue a written summary of public comments and

an assessment of comments received, and in the case of an adjudicatory

hearing, the executive director or any person to whom the executive

director has delegated such authority shall issue a final written

hearing report. A final siting permit may only be issued if ORES makes a

finding that the proposed project, together with any applicable uniform

and site-specific standards and conditions, would comply with applicable

laws and regulations. In making a final siting permit determination with

respect to a major renewable energy facility, ORES may elect not to

apply, in whole or in part, any local law or ordinance that would

otherwise be applicable if it makes a finding that, as applied to the

proposed facility, it is unreasonably burdensome in view of the CLCPA

targets, and the environmental benefits.

6. Notwithstanding any other deadline made applicable by this section,

ORES shall make a final decision on a major renewable energy facility

siting permit within one year from the date the application was deemed

complete, or within six months from the date the application was deemed

complete if such application relates to a major renewable energy

facility that is proposed to be sited on an existing or abandoned

commercial use, including without limitation, brownfields, landfills,

former commercial or industrial sites, dormant electric generating

sites, and abandoned or otherwise underutilized sites, as further

defined by the regulations promulgated by or in effect under this

article. Unless ORES and the applicant have agreed to an extension and

if a final siting permit decision has not been made by ORES within such

time period, then such siting permit shall be deemed to have been

automatically granted for all purposes set forth in this article and all

uniform conditions or site specific permit conditions issued for public

comment shall constitute enforceable provisions of the siting permit;

provided, however, any portion of which is to be located on the land of

a landowner for which the applicant lacks an existing right-of-way

agreement or valid and enforceable lease or easement for use of such

relevant property, no such permit shall be automatically granted. The

final siting permit related to a major renewable energy facility shall

include a provision requiring the permittee to provide a host community

benefit, which may be a host community benefit as determined by the

commission pursuant to section eight of part JJJ of chapter fifty-eight

of the laws of two thousand twenty or such other project as determined

by ORES or as subsequently agreed to between the applicant and the host

community.

* NB Repealed December 31, 2040