ALBANY —The New York State Department of Public Service has announced the Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission (ORES) will hold in-person and virtual public comment hearings to receive comments on the proposed rules and regulations for the environmental review, permitting, and siting of major renewable energy facilities and major electric transmission facilities under the Renewable Action through Project Interconnection and Deployment (RAPID) Act.

New York State recently enacted the RAPID Act, which consolidates the environmental review, permitting, and siting of major renewable energy facilities and major electric transmission facilities under the purview of ORES. Among other things, the RAPID Act authorizes ORES, in consultation with the Department of Public Service and subject to approval by the Public Service Commission, to promulgate rules and regulations to implement the new siting permit program for major electric transmission facilities established by the RAPID Act.

All interested persons, organizations, corporations, or government agencies are invited to attend the hearings and comment on the proposed regulations and the draft generic environmental impact statement  prepared for the rulemaking. Lengthy comments should be summarized and 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 Judges (ALJs) may limit the time available for oral comments to three (3) minutes per person.

In-person public comments hearings on the proposed rulemaking will be held as follows:

Virtual Public Comment Hearings on the proposed rulemaking will be held as follows:

To register for the virtual hearings: Persons who will login to a hearing electronically must register. To register, visit dps.ny.gov/event/rapid-act-virtual-public-hearings-1pm-and-6pm, click on “Register,” and fill in the requested information. You will be asked whether you wish to make a public statement or not. After registration is complete, you will receive a confirmation by email with information about how to join the hearing.

Any person wishing to provide a public comment must register in advance of either hearing no later than 10:00 a.m. on Monday, March 10, 2025. Any person who wants only to observe the hearing online must also pre-register. Any person may listen to the hearing by phone without pre-registration.

Please note: In the event that an 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.

All public comment hearings will be transcribed for inclusion in the administrative record.

Written Comments

For those who cannot attend or prefer not to comment at the public statement hearing, there are alternate ways to provide comments.

Written comments are sought on the proposed rulemaking and DGEIS. Comments should be submitted by March 18, 2025, and should refer to Case 24-M-0433.

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 www.dps.ny.gov, click on “File Search” (located under the heading “Commission Files”), enter “24-M-0433” in the “Search by Case Number” field, and click on “Post Comments” in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

Persons unable to post comments electronically may mail their comments to the Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission, Empire State Plaza, P-1 South, J Dock, Albany, NY 12242, and reference Case 24-M-0433. All comments must be postmarked no later than March 18, 2025. Comments mailed to the Office will be posted on the Department’s DMM and will be included in the official record of the matter.

Document Availability

Copies of all application materials and draft permit conditions are available for inspection at the ORES Albany office during normal business hours: Contact the Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission, W.A. Harriman Campus, Building 9, 4th Floor, 1220 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12227 and ores.hearings@dps.ny.gov.

Electronic copies are available online at the Department of Public Service webpage by going to www.dps.ny.gov, clicking on “File Search” (located under the heading “Commission Files”) and entering “24-M-0433” in the “Search by Case Number” field.