Public Comment Hearing Set Regarding Franklin County Solar Array

ALBANY -The New York State Department of Public Service (DPS or Department) has announced the Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission (ORES) will hold an in-person public comment hearing on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. to receive comments on a proposed solar array in the Town of Fort Covington, Franklin County.

On July 16, 2024, Fort Covington Solar, LLC filed an application for a permit pursuant to Public Service Law Article VIII to construct and operate a 250 megawatt (MW) solar array in the Town of Fort Covington, Franklin County. A notice of complete application was issued February 11, 2025 (see https://dps.ny.gov/ores-permit-applications, click on Project Permit Application Number 23-02990).

ORES staff published draft permit conditions on April 14, 2025. The draft permit conditions may be accessed at https://dps.ny.gov/ores-permit-applications, click on Project Permit Application Number 23-02990.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that an in-person public comment hearing will be held, pursuant to 16 NYCRR part 1100, to hear and receive unsworn comments from the public as follows:

All persons, organizations, corporations, or government agencies who may be affected by the facility are invited to attend the hearing and comment on the application and the draft permit conditions. Lengthy comments will not be accepted and instead should be submitted in writing. Equal weight will be given to both oral and written comments.

To ensure that all interested persons have an opportunity to speak, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) may limit the time available for oral comments to three (3) minutes per person. The public comment hearing will be transcribed for inclusion in the administrative record.

The hearing location is reasonably accessible to persons with a mobility impairment. Persons with disabilities requiring special accommodations should call the Department's Human Resource Management Office at (518) 473-9463 as soon as possible. TDD users may request a sign language interpreter by placing a call through the New York Relay Service at 711. Individuals with difficulty understanding or reading English are encouraged to call DPS at (800) 342-3377 for free language assistance services.

In the event that the in-person public comment hearing needs to be canceled, rescheduled, postponed, or conducted virtually, notification of any change will be available at the ORES website at https://dps.ny.gov/ores.

Written Public Comments: Written comments concerning the application and the draft permit conditions must be filed with ORES by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, June 20, 2025. Persons filing written comments are strongly encouraged to post their comments on the Department's Document and Matter Management (DMM) system. To post a comment, go to https://dps.ny.gov/ores, click on "ORES Permit Applications," click on Project Permit Application Number 23-02990, and click on "Post Comments" in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

Written comments may also be emailed to ORES at [email protected] or mailed to the Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission, Empire State Plaza, P-1 South, J Dock, Albany, NY 12242. Please reference Project Permit Application Number 23-02990. Written comments will be considered equally with oral statements delivered at the public comment hearing, provided they are postmarked by Friday, June 20, 2025, or e-mailed or posted on DMM by 5:00 p.m. on that date.

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25067 / 23-02990