Senate Bill S8095

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8095

SPONSOR: HARCKHAM
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public service law, in relation to siting permits
for grassland bird breeding habitats or grassland bird wintering habi-
tats

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill provides for mitigation of habitat of grassland birds in DEC-
designated grassland bird conservation centers when siting solar farms
or other electric transmission facilities.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 modifies Public Service Law 139 by adding a new subdivision
2-a to provide for three acres of mitigation for every acre of occupied
grassland bird breeding habitat and one acre of mitigation for every
acre of grassland bird wintering habitat taken for siting an electric
transmission facility inside of a DEC-designated grassland bird conser-
              

vation center. Section 2 provides an effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Grassland bird populations have been declining faster than any other
group of birds in the northeast, due to development pressure and to the
loss of farmland. The State is working to maintain, restore and expand
grasslands on both public and private property, responding to the needs
of different target bird species by creating conservation plans with
landowners, non-profit organizations and other agencies to protect
indigenous birds. Because of the threat of habitat loss in certain crit-
ical locations, New York's Department of Environmental Conservation has
designated eight areas in different parts of the state as "grassland
bird conservation centers," most of which are under private ownership
(see, https://dec.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2024-
04/grasslandbirdsstrategyfinal.pdf ).

Grassland bird habitat is open, treeless land, comprised of agricultural
fields as well as naturally occurring grasslands.  Grasslands are ideal
locations for solar farms, some of which are 600 acres or more in size.
In the past, when an electric transmission facility was sited in a
grassland with important bird breeding and overwintering habitat, the
State required three acres of mitigation for every acre of breeding
habitat and one acre of mitigation for every acre of overwintering habi-
tat being developed. In 2020, the Office of Renewable Energy Siting and
Electric Transmission (ORES) was created by the State to consolidate the
environmental review and permitting of major renewable energy' facili-
ties. ORES rewrote the regulations for grassland bird mitigation in
newly sited facilities, reducing the mitigation requirement for breeding
habitat from three acres to 0.4 acres and for overwintering habitat from
one acre to 0.2 acres, representing a serious potential loss of critical
habitat to grassland birds. This bill restores the mitigation require-
ment to pre-ORES levels within DEC-designated grassland bird conserva-
tion centers in order to protect our native birds living in such
centers. It does not apply to grasslands or agricultural lands outside
of the centers so is limited in its scope.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.