NY A09109

Amends uniform standards for major renewable energy facilities to require avoidance, minimization, and mitigation of agricultural impacts to active agricultural lands to the maximum extent practicable.

Requires the Office of Renewable Energy Siting to consult with the Department of Agriculture and Markets to ensure no more than five percent of prime soils within a regional economic development council region are developed for solar projects.

Establishes new rules requiring applicants to submit reports on impacts to prime agricultural land, cumulative impact studies on regional food economy effects, and decommissioning plans with surety bonds for commercial-scale projects on farmland.

Gives preference and expedited approval to solar development on brownfields, landfills, parking lots, rooftops, and gravel pits rather than on agricultural lands.

Requires a one percent farmland conservation fee on the price per acre of prime soil or prime farmland where solar is developed, to be deposited in the environmental protection fund's farmland preservation subaccount.