However, that is not the case of the proposal at all. The bill, Senate Bill S4408, would do as the sponsors memo says:
“adds a new section 9-0508 to the environmental conservation law to allow the department to enter into agreements for the sole purpose of aiding in the interconnection of renewable energy installations which are located outside of reforestation lands and the transmission and distribution of electricity from those installations. Any agreement made for this purpose would be prohibited from interfering with the operation or use of the reforestation areas.”
In other words, it would allow power lines to cross state lands to assist in the movement of solar and wind power from nearby solar facilities across the state land. While it’s not completely clear if such a policy is prohibited currently – the state does from time to time permit the construction of power lines across reforestation areas – this explicitly makes it a permitted use on the state lands.
Here is the actual text of the proposed law.
§ 9-0508. AGREEMENTS AND EASEMENTS RELATED TO RENEWABLE ENERGY INTERCON-
NECTION.
NOTWITHSTANDING ANY PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE SEVEN OF THE PUBLIC LANDS
LAW TO THE CONTRARY, THE DEPARTMENT MAY, IN ANY LANDS ACQUIRED AS
REFORESTATION AREAS BY THE STATE IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 9-0501 OF
THIS TITLE, ENTER INTO AGREEMENTS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LEASES,
OR EASEMENTS, FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF AIDING IN THE INTERCONNECTION OF
RENEWABLE ENERGY INSTALLATIONS LOCATED OUTSIDE SUCH LANDS AND THE TRANS-
MISSION AND DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRICITY THEREFROM. SUCH INTERCONNECTION
RIGHTS SHALL NOT INTERFERE WITH THE OPERATION OF SUCH REFORESTATION
AREAS FOR THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH THEY WERE ACQUIRED AND AS DEFINED IN
SECTION THREE OF ARTICLE FOURTEEN OF THE NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION.
ANY AGREEMENT MADE AND ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION SHALL BE
RECORDED IN THE OFFICE OF GENERAL SERVICES AND BE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE
PUBLIC ON THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF SUCH OFFICE.
Is this proposal a good one or a bad one? That’s up to you to considered. I will note that the concept of the Hewitt Act is explicitly multiple use, with forest products and mineral products like oil and gas production having always been part of state forest management, along with hunting, fishing, camping, and watershed production.
Legally, as an employee of the legislature, I can’t advocate for or against this measure. But I can say, look at the facts as a whole, and read what the measure does and not what the politicians say it does. Indeed, this bill should not have generated much controversy, as while power lines can require a forest cut or impact scenic resources, their is a public comment and administrative review proceedings to ensure such decisions serve the public benefit.
I am working on a map of how many New York State’s land mass you can fit into other states land mass. I will post later in the week. But in the mean time…
You can fit 12.1 states with the land area of New York in Alaska, 5.5 in Texas, 3.09 in Montana, 1.69 in Minnesota, 1.46 in Minnesota.
In many ways, even if I had the camper shell on my new rig, with the cold, damp gray weather at least to start out the long weekend it wouldn’t have been a good weekend to head out to wilderness.
This week I am going to continue researching camper shells, 🚚 but honestly I will probably end up ordering a ARE MX Camper Shell next Saturday for delivery hopefully during the month of June. I like the extra height, and while it has impact on fuel economy, I don’t think it’s that great. Probably end up with a height a little lower then Big Red, and I’ll have to use the manual car wash, but it’s fine, I’ll also probably not want to run the solar panels through an automatic wash at any rate. I got to think about it some more. Also want to oil undercoat the body of the truck before autumn to help control rust.
The plan is a week from Saturday to go to Ruth’s with the proposed build sheet and price and date out when my truck cap can be built. 🏗️ I feel like I only last did this with my old truck, but it was 14 years ago. Too bad the old truck cap won’t fit on the new truck. I did get a lot of use out of the old truck cap though. I mean I could have gotten Big Red’s frame fixed but I planned his retirement for the spring, as I want to ensure I have reliable truck for travels over the next few years. Maybe a 14 1/2 year old truck isn’t completely unreliable, but also I make good money, and it’s one thing I enjoy spending money. Also will probably go to Salvation Army and Goodwill to look for some new clothes for work, 🧑🏫 as they are quite affordable and often kind of neat and funky looking compared to what you might find on Interwebs or the maul for far more money.
Be a ruthless cutter on things you don’t care about, while spend lavishly on things you do, 💰 is the mindset of the intentional spender. Truth is I do make pretty good money, and while my investments had swollen prior to the situation in Iran 🇮🇷 completely blowing up thanks to the Trumpster, it’s just so much. But also 14 or 15 years, is a pretty long time in a lifespan, you only get maybe 5 or 6 opportunities for just a time period in your life. I bought Big Red when I was 28 years old, I am now 43 years old, and if Old Smokey last just as long, I’ll be 57 when I retire him. Simple math, but it’s also a lot of life lived in the mean-time. 🧮
I don’t plan to start up Old Smokey until Sunday, 🛻 as honestly I don’t love driving that much, and I can ride to Wally World this afternoon to get supplies, and then maybe to Five Rivers 🐸 in the afternoon. Saturday I’ll probably do something similar, but maybe go over to Pine Hollow Arboretum 🪷 and see what signs of spring I can find before going to Five Rivers to read an e-book. 📚 I figure with gas prices so high, and my desire to keep Old Smokey relatively new for now, it’s best to keep him off the road for now. I should also start researching using the upfitter switches to hook up the CB radio and the path to install and mount the CB antenna on the hood. I think I need a different mount then I used on Silverado, but they do make hood mounts for SuperDuty trucks. Going to mount the antenna for the cell booster on the truck cap.
I should be more excited about camping and traveling again, 🏕️ but whatever, it’s more a continuing of what I did before, spending more money, for a high that I don’t even find all that much fun anymore. I do hope to get to Michigan but who knows if it will happen this summer with work, and now gas prices. ⛽ I honestly expect gas to only keep going up, I don’t see the Iran situation ending quickly. Maybe I’m wrong, but probably not. But regardless, I do want to finish building my rig, except for the diesel heater by summer, which I will purchase and set up in autumn for winter camping. I can say I’m kind of bored with that, but I do like fires in wilderness, and winter camping will be so much nicer with the diesel heater. Also Old Smokey has remote start, which means I can just hit a button on keys or use a phone to start the truck, which is great when the batteries run low in the cold or I need extra power for the glow plug on diesel heater. 🔋 But also because I tend to leave the truck parked for long periods of time, remote start allows me to start the truck a few minutes before leaving, giving lots of time for oil to circulate around the engine, and warm up or the interior to cool off when it’s hot or cold out. Even just walking back to the truck from the store, I can start it up so it’s a had a few minutes to run before I shift it into gear. That’s much better for the engine.
People who spout off on the internet about what a piece of legislation does should first read the actual text of legislation, not a press release put out by the Republicans who seek merely to score political points.
Also take in consideration what the constitution says, along with all legal prescendence and laws relating to the proposed law. When you do that, you will see the measure is both completely reasonable, prudent and consistent with existing public policy.
I am not saying the Democrat who sponsors the measure is not guilty in playing into the Republican fears, the press release implies the measure is a lot more extensive then it is in reality. In many ways, if the sponsor had chosen a different title for the bill, not put out a press release, and it had remainined a simple departmental bill put out by a state agency, few people would have ever taken notice, as the measure is consistent with existing public policy, but probably still necessary due to existing constraints in the law.
But yeah, the politicians had to ruin it for the rest of us.
I won’t say which measure I am referring to, but I think I’ve seen a lot of alarming posts about it lately on social media, most of which claim things that are far from true.
