Last week the Lloyd Town Board adopted a 6 month moratorium that will, “temporarily suspend a land owner’s or applicant’s ability to obtain approvals for the construction, installation or use of fossil fuel Power Plants within the town while the town considers and adopts changes to its land use regulations to address new circumstances not addressed by the town’s current planning and zoning laws.”

Jeff Anzevino, Director of Land Use Advocacy for Scenic Hudson, commended the board for bringing forward this moratorium. He said because of the recent increase of proposals for these ‘peaker plants’ in the Hudson Valley, which are not subject to a lengthy state review, the town, “is wise to be proactive in amending its zoning to regulate these facilities. Without such regulation air quality, treasured views, adjacent properties and residents’ quality of life could be at risk.” He said it is important for the town to have “protective zoning” in place before an application is submitted to the town.

Anzevino suggested the town law should include the phrase, “carefully considered zoning” instead of, “carefully considered plan.” In addition, he offered a definition of a fossil fuel plant as a, “facility whose primary purpose is for the generation of electric power, in excess of one megawatt, powered by fossil fuel for offsite use.” Town attorney Sean Murphy agreed with the suggestions and added a definition for fossil fuel; “Any combustible organic material such as petroleum, coal or natural gas for or from plant or animal remains.”

Neil Curri, Chairman of the Lloyd Environmental Conservation Council, thanked the board for this moratorium, noting that the ECC has been studying the negative impacts of these small power plants for some time. He said a moratorium allows the town to adopt stringent rules that would govern these kinds of plants. Previously, Curri is on the record saying that the ECC does not believe fossil fuel plants, “are consistent with Lloyd’s community character,” and recommended prohibiting them from being built in Lloyd.

Curri pointed out that the regulatory and economic “reality” of these plants, which has been compiled by state and federal authorities, “has really been engineered to make it advantageous for power plant developers to consider plants in the mid Hudson Valley.” He pointed out that electric demand in the Valley has been decreasing but is increasing in New York City, “which is part of the reason the rules have been set up this way.” He said there is more land available upstate and the plants are cheaper to build in this area rather than in the city. In addition, energy produced farther upstate has not been able to be tapped by the city because of “bottlenecks” in the transmission grid.

Curri volunteered to be on a town committee that will develop recommendations on this issue for the Town Board’s later consideration and adoption.

The Town Board adopted the moratorium, as amended, by a unanimous vote. The 6 month moratorium began on the day of the law’s adoption, January 16, 2019.