Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

Actions behind proposed solar farm has Copake community fuming

COPAKE — Concerned by Hecate Energy’s decision earlier this spring to switch to a new siting process in order to move forward with building its proposed industrial solar plant, Copake officials are now attempting to reach a mutually beneficial understanding between the developer and the town.

As described on the Sensible Solar for Rural New York website, www.sensiblesolarny.com, the project proposed by Hecate Energy entails the construction of “a 360-acre, 60-megawatt solar facility near New York State Route 23, Route 7 and Route 11A in Craryville, a hamlet of Copake, N.Y.” 

After making its initial project presentation to Copake in 2017, Copake town Supervisor Jeanne Mettler said the town didn’t hear from Hecate Energy again until January 2020. 

At that time, she said, Hecate Energy proceeded under Article 10, a process by which it could avoid going to the town for permission to build and instead go a siting board that would decide whether the installation would be allowed. 

Mettler said she, along with the rest of the town, was disturbed the developer tried to skirt not only town processes but also the town law, which prohibits building solar installations of more than 10 acres.

Last spring, the State Legislature passed a law to create the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) process to issue siting permits for renewable energy projects, among other responsibilities. 

This April, Mettler said the town received a letter from Hecate Energy Project Developer Alex Campbell stating Hecate Energy would be switching from Article 10 to “94-c,” a process in which developers can obtain faster and easier approval from the state for large-scale renewable energy projects.

To make matters worse, Mettler said the town discovered New York State exempted ORES from the requisite State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process in its 2021 budget. For years, the SEQRA process typically has required “all state and local government agencies to consider environmental impacts equally with social and economic factors during discretionary decision-making,” according to the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) website. Without going through SEQRA, Mettler said developers will be permitted “faster and easier” approval for their projects.

“Copake is very concerned about the damage to our local environment, to our natural resources, to prime farmland, to wildlife habitat,” Mettler said earlier this spring when Hecate first changed course, adding agriculture and tourism are two main components of Copake’s economy, and that a massive solar farm would be “hugely detrimental” to its environment.

“As much as we absolutely support the governor’s concerns with regards to climate change and we absolutely support his goal of having 70% of New York State energy come from renewable energy by 2030, there are 932 towns in New York State and each town’s share is 6.5 megawatts,” Mettler said, “and when Hecate’s proposing a 60-megawatt process, it’s asking Copake to shoulder 10 times its share of solar energy.”

Although Hecate reduced the project’s acreage from 900 acres to 255 acres, Mettler said the project is still massive considering Copake’s size and not properly scaled. She wants Hecate to speak with the town to find a solution beneficial for both the community and the company.

“The missing piece here is that Hecate Energy has not sat down with the town in a sincere way to find a solution for Hecate, the state and Copake,” said Sensible Solar Co-Founder Darin Johnson, “and that is what the town has asked and Sensible Solar has asked and it has not yet happened… They have not been a good community partner. We don’t trust them. If they want a real presence in the community, then they need to sit down and be a real partner, not just in word.”

On May 21, Mettler said New York State Assemblymember Didi Barrett (D-106) arranged a site visit in Craryville, during which time representatives from the DEC, ORES and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) toured the area where Hecate wants to build. Following the tour, everyone returned to Copake Town Hall where they discussed their concerns with town officials. 

Ideally, Mettler said the next step should be a meeting between her and Hecate Energy. However, on May 27 Mettler said Hecate responded to requests from the town’s attorney regarding discovery, claiming its requests were unreasonable, premature and not supported by law.

Currently, Copake is attempting to organize another meeting with Hecate Energy, as Mettler said she’s still concerned with the project’s size, siting on prime farmland and its impacts on Copake’s scenic beauty, natural resources, economy and local law.

Latest News

Legal Notices - July 9, 2026

Legal Notices - July 9, 2026

Legal Notice

Notice of Formation of Kaits Kleaning LLC. Art. Of Org. filed with SSNY on 05-22-2026. Office Lo-cation: Dutchess county. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 24 Attlebury Hill Road, Standfordville NY 12581.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tenmile Distillery is making history the old-fashioned way

Cheers! The Revolutionary Whisky Series at Ten Mile Distillery, each named for a significant battle of the American Revolution, celebrates America at 250.

D.H. Callahan

In December 2024, the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau officially established the Standard of Identity for American Single Malt Whisky. It was the first new classification in more than half a century, creating new possibilities for American distillers. One of the distilleries taking advantage of this new landscape is Wassaic’s Tenmile Distillery. It is well positioned to make history because Tenmile has always honored traditional whiskey-making practices.

Single malts are often associated with Scotch whisky. Perhaps that’s why, years before the new standard was adopted, Tenmile hired Shane Fraser, a Scottish master distiller with 30 years of experience at some of Scotland’s most prestigious distilleries. Fraser began designing the distillery from the ground up. Alongside owner and general manager Joel LeVangia, he emphasized time-honored traditions, favoring hands-on craftsmanship over the increasingly automated methods used by larger producers. When it comes to making the best whisky possible, Tenmile believes in learning from the past. That philosophy extends beyond the distilling process.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

The magic of Belinda Sinclair

The magic of Belinda Sinclair

Belinda Sinclair

Dean Chamberlain
Sinclair’s show explores the ways women have been practicing forms of magic for centuries, and there is plenty of history to tell.

Belinda Sinclair is the kind of magician who impresses people who don’t like magic. Her tricks are mind-boggling. Her stories are captivating. And if she picks you to write your name on a card, get ready to be wowed. Repeat attendees of her shows, of which there are many, take almost as much delight in watching new jaws drop as they do in seeing an illusion reach its astonishing conclusion.

Since the summer of 2025, Sinclair has been baffling local audiences at the Hughes Memorial Library in West Cornwall, but her magical run comes to a close at the end of August.

Keep ReadingShow less

“Nixon in China” comes to Tanglewood

“Nixon in China” comes to Tanglewood

Renée Fleming, Andris Nelsons and Thomas Hampson.

Hilary Scott

On Friday, July 17 at 8 p.m. in the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood, two of the greatest American voices of their generation, soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Thomas Hampson, join Music Director Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a performance of excerpts from John Adams’ groundbreaking opera “Nixon in China.” The piece, performed earlier this year in Boston and at Carnegie Hall in New York City, is a highlight of a program that also includes “Meditations on Grace” (2024) by BSO Composer Chair Carlos Simon, and the melodic and technically demanding Violin Concerto by Samuel Barber.

Fleming is internationally celebrated for her vocal and dramatic artistry, as well as for her advocacy for the powerful impact of the creative arts in health. Hampson has long been recognized as one of the most innovative musicians of our time and has received countless international honors for his singular artistry and cultural leadership. Both performed in “Nixon in China” earlier this year at the Paris Opera under the baton of Kent Nagano.

Keep ReadingShow less
Local playwright revisits Revolutionary moment in “Rebel Town”

The cast and crew of “Rebeltown: The Musical.”

Jack Sheedy

John Alan Segalla was working in Boston a few years ago, giving historic tours at the site of the Boston Tea Party. Now, as America celebrates 250 years as a nation, the Canaan native is about to debut a new version of his original musical, “Rebel Town,” inspired largely by the Boston Tea Party, the protest that helped launch the American Revolution.

“It wasn’t until I got to Boston and learned the Tea Party story that I fell in love with this moment in history, and I saw the story as wildly compelling and very important, and really a story that was very misunderstood, mistaught in schools,” Segalla said at a recent rehearsal in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, ahead of the show’s July 10 opening.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.