WAMPSVILLE — The Madison County Board of Supervisor’s monthly meeting had supervisors discussing potential wind and solar projects coming to Madison County and their potential impacts.

“Did I hear you correctly? They want 80 wind turbines (in Fenner)?” Madison County Chairman John Becker asked.

“Eighty-Five,” Fenner Supervisor David Jones corrected. “And if it all goes through, we’re in a world of hurt.”

In a push to establish more renewable energy sources, Jones said New York state is offering incentives to private businesses to establish solar and wind projects across Madison County and Fenner is being considered as a site for a massive wind farm and a 15-acre battery storage facility. “And that they want in the town of Fenner because it’s rural,” Jones said.

There are seven projects in the queue right now in Madison County according to the Fenner supervisor: Blue Hill Wind at 25.4 megawatts; Madison Solar at 20 megawatts; Hoffman Falls Wind #1 at 72 megawatts; Cody Road Wind at 20 megawatts; Blue Boston Solar at 50 megawatts; Hoffman Falls Wind #1 at 102.5 megawatts; and Ditch Creek Solar at 200 megawatts.

“And this doesn’t include the solar that’s already starting in Fenner,” he added. “With those eight projects, that’s 730 megawatts of power that’s being proposed. And to put that into perspective of what we already have in the county, this would impact around 20,000 acres in Madison County.”

“20% of New York City’s power is clean and 80% is dirty,” Becker. “Here in Madison County, 80% is clean and 20% is dirty. So to meet their goals, they’ve got to cover us all in solar and wind power.”

Jones said he’d like to see municipalities across the county push back against this from the state, as it could very well threaten the livelihoods of many.

“If we cover this prime farmland, what happens to the city of Oneida if H.P. Hood doesn’t have product? Same with Chobani. They’ll move out,” Jones said. “We really need to do something.”

A farmer’s stance

After the meeting, Jones said that the land that’s being targeted for use is farmland and that farmers are being approached and asked if they would like to lease their farmland — he among them.

“Our family have been dairy farmers and while we sold the cows years ago, we’re still farming the land,” Jones said. “We were approached and asked if we wanted to sign a lease for the wind turbines. We turned it down.”

That being said, the Fenner supervisor doesn’t want to see prime farmland become solar and wind farms.

“I’m not against renewable energy,” Jones said. “And I know there’s climate change. When I first started farming, our growing season wasn’t very long. And now it’s at least a month longer. But we need to do this on a balance.”

One suggestion Jones made was to start looking at parking lots in Madison County as areas for solar farms, similar to what he said his children are seeing out of state.

“They park right under these solar panels,” he said. “And we have these barns and toolsheds we could put solar on. Instead of the state giving so many incentives to these big companies, why not give more incentives to private individuals to put solar panels on their houses, buildings, and businesses. Let’s start out small and not cover up all this property and prime farmland.”