Legislator Godfrey Says Hochul, ORES should have put Bald Eagle first at Bear Ridge Solar Site
As if we need any more reason to oppose the Bear Ridge Solar project in the towns of Cambria and Pendleton, the fact that the site is home to a bald eagle nest further underscores this project should not be built. Yet, Governor Hochul’s Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission (ORES), while acknowledging the bald eagle nest and other wildlife concerns, just recently approved permit modifications to allow the project to continue….and, of course, did so without ever a public hearing on the matter.
As any landowner knows, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) makes it very difficult to just build a shed on your property if they think there could be ANY impact to a protected species. But now when it comes to protecting the bald eagle, DEC simply rolls over for ORES because fulfilling Governor Hochul’s desire to site solar panels in rural communities is all that matters.
When ORES was originally ramming through this project over community objections, their approval clearly stated that there were no known bald eagle nests within the project area or within one-quarter mile of it. That changed in spring of 2024, when DEC reported a bald eagle nest within the facility site. The developer subsequently confirmed the nest and its’ precise location. That should have been a major warning sign.
Instead, ORES, behind closed doors as always, simply required a few tweaks to the permit and rubber stamped its approval. What are these restrictions? No construction work within a quarter-mile of the nest during the breeding season, January 1 through September 30. But this ignores the fact that wildlife impacts are not limited to the days when construction equipment is operating.
We all know solar facilities permanently change the landscape. Roads, fencing, solar arrays, electrical infrastructure and ongoing human activity can alter habitat and wildlife movement long after construction ends. A bald eagle nest inside the project footprint should therefore raise a much larger question than simply whether construction can be scheduled around nesting season, namely should this project be built in this location at all?
That question becomes even more important because Bear Ridge already has documented impacts on other protected bird habitats. ORES has determined the project would adversely affect 341.9 acres of occupied wintering habitat for northern harrier. Although the project design supposedly reduced the previously calculated impact, ORES still determined the remaining impact was significant enough to require a Net Conservation Benefit Plan.
So, we have a project with significant impacts to occupied bird habitat and a confirmed bald eagle nest within the facility site. And Governor Hochul, ORES and DEC are all fine with that. Again, they would never give such consideration to an average homeowner.
As ORES’ own records show, circumstances have changed significantly since the project was originally approved. But now that a bald eagle nest has been discovered within the project site, and the project continues to involve significant impacts to occupied grassland bird habitat, all original assumptions must be revisited and the project halted.
The hypocrisy in this permitting process is staggering. The lack of effort to protect the bald eagle is astounding. But ORES and Hochul riding roughshod over any perceived obstacle to get Bear Ridge solar built. Sadly, there is nothing surprising about that.
My point, without question or exception, is that the bald eagle is one of the largest birds of prey and the only eagle species unique to North America. Known as the American Bald Eagle it is our country’s national symbol of strength and freedom. They were once almost wiped-out, but our unceasing efforts have brought them back from the brink of extinction. We must continue protect them . . . . . no matter what !