We want our home rule back: I filed a new lawsuit with the Town of Glen against New York State

On Friday, June 12th, 2026, I, in my capacity as the president of the American Land Rescue Fund with the Town of Glen, New York, filed a lawsuit against the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) over the legality of the RAPID Act implementing regulations.

You can read the petition in full here.

I promised at the start of this that I would work to help every single rural town in New York State that has, against its will, been forced to host an ORES solar or wind complex.

And this lawsuit does exactly that. This is a sweeping, bold, and statewide lawsuit that is as aggressive as we can possibly be in the face of authoritarian New York State agency overreach. Allow me to explain our objectives here.

In 2024, New York passed the Renewable Action Through Project Interconnection and Deployment Act, commonly known as the RAPID Act.

The law dramatically changed how large energy projects are approved in New York. Historically, local governments, residents, nonprofit organizations, and affected communities had opportunities to participate in the review of major energy infrastructure projects.

As we all know, this local participation has been completely destroyed in the ORES process.

Under the RAPID framework, much of that authority was purposely consolidated into ORES, which is unreachable by phone, email, and voicemail.

ORES already oversees utility-scale solar and wind projects. The RAPID Act expanded that authority to major electric transmission projects as well.

This would give a single state agency enormous authority over the approval of industrial renewable energy facilities and transmission infrastructure across New York.

So, we decided to sue. Since the Town of Glen, New York has already sued over the treatment of their community for Mill Point Solar, including ORES’ failure to schedule an in-person community hearing as part of the “siting process,” they agreed to be a main petitioner in this lawsuit alongside our nonprofit.

Before I dive into why we are challenging the RAPID Act regulations, first, a word from Ground News.

While we endure the irresponsible rollout of mass solar and wind installations countrywide at the hands of foreign developers today…

It’s important to get your news from a balanced and independent place. I strive to provide that for you all on here, but I encourage you to read other articles and perspectives on what’s happening in the “green” energy space as well.

One great place to do this is through the Ground News. Ground News processes thousands of articles daily, merging them into single stories that reveal multiple perspectives from multiple media sources in our place. Their goal is to cut through polarizing algorithms, highlight information blindspots, and make media bias clear so readers can think critically about the content they consume.

I think we can all agree that our world needs more independence in the media space!

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Our lawsuit argues that state agencies failed to follow important procedural and environmental review requirements before adopting these regulations.

Environmental laws exist for a reason. As I keep saying… if New York State is allowed to depart, publicly, from the environmental rule of law of our land, then what is the point of our parks, endangered species, and Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which is now nowhere to be found with any of the solar and wind offenses?

Typically and historically in New York, before government agencies create sweeping regulations that affect farmland, wildlife habitat, wetlands, local communities, emergency services, and private property rights, they are required to conduct environmental review and follow specific public rulemaking procedures.

Our lawsuit alleges that those requirements were not properly followed.

The case raises questions about:

• Whether the public was given access to the final regulations when required by law.

• Whether state agencies completed required impact analyses.

• Whether proper environmental review occurred before the regulations were adopted.

• Whether alternatives were adequately considered.

• Whether agencies made the findings required under New York environmental law before approving the regulations.

As our lawsuit states, these procedures exist to ensure transparency, accountability, and public participation before government agencies make decisions that affect millions of New Yorkers.

We have a runaway train here in the form of ORES, with complete and total shielding by the Department of Public Service and NY governor’s office.

While I learned about what would happen to the wildlife of Fort Edward, New York for Fort Edward Solar, people from around the state began to message me. I learned about towns, families, history, culture, and eagles’ nests that stood in ORES’ way. I realized my experience was similar to the 36+ communities that are fighting with everything they have against ORES solar and wind complexes.

That’s why this lawsuit is bigger than one singular project. It’s an aggressive legal angle that has not yet been tried, to this extent, since ORES’ inception in 2020.

The regulations being challenged now govern the approval process for major renewable energy and transmission projects throughout New York State. Whether someone supports renewable energy or opposes renewable energy, government agencies should still be required to follow the law.

The lawsuit has now been filed in Albany County Supreme Court. The State will have an opportunity to respond. The court will review the legal arguments, the administrative record, and the actions taken by the agencies involved. This will likely take months.

We are aware we are working against a deck that was already stacked against renewable pushback, purposely and politically, many years ago.

I’ve thought about this a lot. I could either sit back and do nothing and accept the inevitable. That would be easy to do, especially in a state like New York. Or I could try. I found a genius attorney who has taken my goals and elevated them beyond my wildest imagination. And I have found other brave New Yorkers, like those in Glen, who will stop at nothing to defend their towns, prime farmland, and rural character as well.

Together, we’re going to give this one hell of a shot.

I have more updates to come as it relates to this lawsuit as well. I cannot share the full picture quite yet. But stay tuned here as I release updates every Monday on our battle to preserve New York’s environment.

Pretty soon, I can feel, we will be taking this fight into the national space. So hang in there!

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