* § 142. Application, notice, and review relating to major renewable
energy facility siting. 1. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, ORES
shall, within sixty days of its receipt of an application for a siting
permit with respect to a major renewable energy facility subject to this
article determine whether the application is complete and notify the
applicant of its determination. If ORES does not deem the application
complete, ORES shall set forth in writing delivered to the applicant the
reasons why it has determined the application to be incomplete. If ORES
fails to make a determination within the foregoing sixty-day time
period, the application shall be deemed complete; provided, however,
that the applicant may consent to an extension of the sixty-day time
period for determining application completeness. Provided, further, that
no application may be complete without proof of consultation with the
municipality or political subdivision where the project is proposed to
be located, or an agency thereof, prior to submission of an application
to ORES, related to procedural and substantive requirements of local
law.

2. No later than sixty days following the date upon which an
application has been deemed complete, and following consultation with
any relevant state agency or authority, ORES shall publish for public
comment draft permit conditions prepared by the office, which comment
period shall be for a minimum of sixty days from public notice thereof,
or notice of intent to deny with reasons thereof. Such public notice
shall include, but shall not be limited to: (i) written notice to the
municipalities or political subdivisions in which such project is
proposed to be located; (ii) publication in a newspaper or in electronic
form, having general circulation in such municipalities or political
subdivisions; (iii) posting the notice on the office of renewable energy
siting and electric transmissions and the department's website; and (iv)
written notice to each member of the legislature through whose district
the facility proposed in the application would be located.

3. For any municipality, political subdivision or an agency thereof
that has received notice of the filing of an application, pursuant to
regulations promulgated in accordance with this article, the
municipality or political subdivision or agency thereof shall within the
timeframes established by this subdivision submit a statement to ORES
indicating whether the proposed project is designed to be sited,
constructed and operated in compliance with applicable local laws and
regulations, if any, concerning the environment, or public health and
safety. In the event that a municipality, political subdivision or an
agency thereof submits a statement to ORES that the proposed project is
not designed to be sited, constructed or operated in compliance with
local laws and regulations and ORES determines not to hold an
adjudicatory hearing on the application, ORES shall hold a
non-adjudicatory public hearing in or near one or more of the affected
municipalities or political subdivisions. In any such adjudicatory
hearing, ORES or the department, shall designate members of its staff to
represent the public interest, including with respect to the application
of local and state laws.

4. If public comments on a draft permit condition published by ORES
pursuant to this section, including comments provided by a municipality
or political subdivision or agency thereof, landowners, or members of
the public, raise a substantive and significant issue, as defined in
regulations adopted pursuant to this article, that requires
adjudication, ORES shall promptly fix a date for an adjudicatory hearing
to hear arguments and consider evidence with respect thereto.

5. Following the expiration of the public comment period set forth in
this section, and following the conclusion of a hearing undertaken
pursuant to subdivision four of this section, ORES shall, in the case of
a public comment period, issue a written summary of public comments and
an assessment of comments received, and in the case of an adjudicatory
hearing, the executive director or any person to whom the executive
director has delegated such authority shall issue a final written
hearing report. A final siting permit may only be issued if ORES makes a
finding that the proposed project, together with any applicable uniform
and site-specific standards and conditions, would comply with applicable
laws and regulations. In making a final siting permit determination with
respect to a major renewable energy facility, ORES may elect not to
apply, in whole or in part, any local law or ordinance that would
otherwise be applicable if it makes a finding that, as applied to the
proposed facility, it is unreasonably burdensome in view of the CLCPA
targets, and the environmental benefits.

6. Notwithstanding any other deadline made applicable by this section,
ORES shall make a final decision on a major renewable energy facility
siting permit within one year from the date the application was deemed
complete, or within six months from the date the application was deemed
complete if such application relates to a major renewable energy
facility that is proposed to be sited on an existing or abandoned
commercial use, including without limitation, brownfields, landfills,
former commercial or industrial sites, dormant electric generating
sites, and abandoned or otherwise underutilized sites, as further
defined by the regulations promulgated by or in effect under this
article. Unless ORES and the applicant have agreed to an extension and
if a final siting permit decision has not been made by ORES within such
time period, then such siting permit shall be deemed to have been
automatically granted for all purposes set forth in this article and all
uniform conditions or site specific permit conditions issued for public
comment shall constitute enforceable provisions of the siting permit;
provided, however, any portion of which is to be located on the land of
a landowner for which the applicant lacks an existing right-of-way
agreement or valid and enforceable lease or easement for use of such
relevant property, no such permit shall be automatically granted. The
final siting permit related to a major renewable energy facility shall
include a provision requiring the permittee to provide a host community
benefit, which may be a host community benefit as determined by the
commission pursuant to section eight of part JJJ of chapter fifty-eight
of the laws of two thousand twenty or such other project as determined
by ORES or as subsequently agreed to between the applicant and the host
community.

* NB Repealed December 31, 2040