Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds light and variable..
Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.
Updated: August 17, 2026 @ 3:23 pm
Site of the proposed Shepherd’s Run Solar Project in Copake.
Site of the proposed Shepherd’s Run Solar Project in Copake.
COPAKE — A state official is requiring a new hearing next month on Hecate Energy’s proposed 215-acre, 42-megawatt Shepherd’s Run solar farm in the town that will question whether the solar farm’s developers should receive a final permit to build.
The state Office of Renewable Energy Siting, which is the agency tasked with issuing the solar farm’s developers the final permit to build, is questioning the farm’s impact on protected wetlands and the town’s 100-year floodplain. Those issues should be resolved by an evidentiary hearing, the state office’s interim Executive Director Jason Zehr wrote in a decision released Thursday.
The evidentiary hearing is set for Sept. 8 at Copake Town Hall and will not involve public participation. Attorneys from the town and Hecate are expected to make their cases before two state administrative law judges about the wetland and floodplain issues.
In a June 25 ruling, two state administrative law judges found that while Hecate’s use of old data about the solar farm’s wetland impact is an issue, the dispute was insignificant enough that it could be resolved after a final permit had been issued.
Hecate used data from 2019 through 2020 in its 2024 application because when its first application to build the solar farm in Copake was rejected, it was told by the then-ORES director it could use the older data.
Because the state energy siting office is legally required to ensure wetlands remain untouched by every project it permits, waiting until after a permit is issued is “improper” because it could mean Hecate received its permit “erroneously,” Zehr wrote in his ruling last week.
The hearing is expected to feature arguments from the town and Hecate as to whether wetlands impact has been properly addressed, which could give state enough information on the wetlands question to make a final decision.
“Although I am not making any final determination here, I note that without such further record development (on the solar farm’s compliance with wetlands regulations) a question exists as to whether permit issuance should occur in this matter,” Zehr wrote.
Significant portions of the proposed solar farm are in Copake’s 100-year floodplain, which requires Hecate to mitigate the project’s floodplain impacts and secure a permit from the town to begin construction, under town law.
Hecate has argued Copake’s law should be overridden by state law streamlining renewable energy facilities, but its argument was rejected by the administrative law judges in June and by Zehr in his Thursday ruling.
“I am not persuaded by (Hecate’s) arguments regarding (Copake’s floodplain law),” Zehr wrote. “Specifically, I find that (Hecate’s) asserted position is inconsistent with ORES precedent and that ORES staff has properly analyzed the issue.”
Since the extent of Hecate’s compliance with Copake’s floodplain law could result in “a major project modification, the imposition of additional site-specific conditions, or even permit denial” in addition to Hecate not not submitting enough information for ORES for the office to judge its compliance with the law, the floodplain dispute must be resolved in the public hearing,” Zehr wrote.
In an affidavit Copake’s attorney, Benjamin Wiesniewski, submitted to the project’s record, ecology expert Johanna Duffy testified Hecate had not provided essential floodplain information for ORES’ consideration.
In an appeal filed Friday in response to Zehr’s Thursday decision, Wiesniewski sought the dismissal of Hecate’s application, or to extend the procedural schedule set out Thursday by the administrative law judges on the same day of Zehr’s decision.
In the appeal, Wiesniewski took issue with the shortened public and attorney comment periods leading up to the September hearing and the “impossibly compressed” post-hearing schedule, all of which are required by state law to be longer than the time frame set out by administrative law judges, he argued.
The schedule set by the judges allows a week for both sides to submit expert testimony on the wetlands and floodplain issues when complex field work is required. Such a tight schedule deprives the town of its opportunity to be heard, Wiesniewski added.
Because state law requires a much longer amount of time for comment and review before and after the hearing, and ORES has already extended the final permit decision deadline almost as much as it can under its regulations, the application should be entirely dismissed, Wiesniewski argued.
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