Currently, in the Town of Ulster, a ground-mounted solar array project has been proposed and is being reviewed. The facility will generate needed renewable electricity at lower rates than Central Hudson currently provides. The location of the project is to be along a section of what’s locally known as “the ridge” in a small wooded, scrub and wetland area. It’s to be situated along Tuytenbridge Road between the Kingston/Ulster Airport on Route 32 and the Holiday Inn Express on Route 9W. While much of the surrounding area is developed and close to major highways, the mall and heavy commercial development, this patch of land for the proposed solar array remains mostly undeveloped. Once the solar farm is installed, it will essentially remain quiet and undisturbed. The electricity generated from the new array will connect with the local grid and be consumed primarily by surrounding communities.

Naturally, as surely as the sun rises in the east, the project has attracted opponents. Well-experienced anti-development activists, accountable to no one, have decided that they don’t like the planned location and are using well-worn fear-mongering to try to slow and stop the project. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to derail cheap, locally generated solar energy. But apparently, in Ulster County any development is fair game for never-builders.

Opponents of the project feel the location of the solar farm is just too sensitive and requires cutting down approximately 26 acres of trees. Their literature breathlessly declares “the project will decimate our wildlife, threaten eagles' nests, and fell a 26-acre forest that will take a century to grow back!” This to me sounds like an unwillingness to recognize the collective benefit of such a project.

What opponents don’t share is how research shows that the impact of solar farms on biodiversity and habitat, such as the one proposed, is by no means all negative and nowhere near the “decimation” claimed by activists. While there is an initial disruption to the area during construction, for the lifetime of the solar array (25-40 years or more), the area becomes a quiet, shaded and protective haven for various birds and other types of animals and insects. In addition to questioning opponent's claims of “decimation,” they selectively ignore humanity’s existential issue of climate change, and the pressing need to reduce our collective carbon footprint overall.

The loss of 26 acres of trees for carbon sequestration is tiny in comparison to what the proposed solar array will save in fossil fuel use and carbon output over its lifetime. And while we may lose some forest, it can easily be offset by tree-planting at new and expanding local preserves and parks, as well as private and municipal landscaping.

The Town of Ulster, at the juncture of 199 and 9W just over the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, is a logical area for development. It’s a major gateway to the Catskills where hotels, housing and commercial development have, over several decades, already sprung up. Indeed, it’s Ulster County’s commercial hub, and attracts many shoppers and employees from all around. It’s where much of the town's sales tax revenue is made, and where planners since IBM days have concentrated much of our county’s commercial development. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that some additional development is proposed along the 9W corridor in the Town of Ulster.

Generally speaking, creating opposition to building a solar array that will bring cheaper, renewable energy is a tough sell. To overcome this, activists are trying to blur the lines in public discussions by connecting this project to another, more controversial one. By doing so opponents may create enough confusion and instinctive NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard) to slow down and kill all development.

The Town of Ulster coincidentally (and unrelatedly) is reviewing an application to build a new housing complex not far from the solar array project. This development, which I’ve touched on in prior columns, is to be located just above the hill from Adams Fairacre Farms on 9W. Opponents of the housing project cite the social injustice of building market-rate housing (which they call "luxury,” and raise concerns about adding traffic to the four-lane highways of 9W and Route 199. And, of course, the salamanders.

The pushback against these two projects in the Town of Ulster – solar array and housing – both epitomize the zany activism of our area. Elected officials and most everyday citizens welcome the creation of renewable energy projects, as well as new housing. Most adults realize that getting to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, a goal set by New York State to achieve by 2040, will require compromise and sacrifice. To address our local housing crisis, housing of all kinds needs to be built. This is especially the case as iPark 87, also in the Town of Ulster and near the proposed housing development site, takes on more commercial tenants and increases housing demands for employees.

I’m not dismissing concerns for the protection of Ulster’s natural assets, and I too worry about housing challenges too many face today. But even an activist devoted to their cause needs to take a step back and see the forest through the trees. Too often unaccountable activist groups, pandering to local NIMBYism, seek to derail proposed projects based on parochial concerns. I ask those who oppose this solar array project, if not there, then where? And if not now, when?

Raleigh Green is a local business owner specializing in marketing communications consulting and services. If you enjoy this column, please "like" it on social media and share online. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer; they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Kingston Wire Editorial Team.