Harris Beach attorney Gene Kelly presented at the Independent Power Producers of New York (IPPNY) conference on “New York’s Article 10 and SEQRA Under the Clean Energy Standard.” Gene represents a number of national and regional renewable energy developers and regularly counsels companies on matters involving environmental and energy law.

Gene’s panel presentation focused on natural resource issues in wind and solar development. The panel was moderated by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation’s Deputy Commissioner for Natural Resources and addressed a variety of issues currently at the center of New York’s push to increase development of renewable energy across the state. Gene and his fellow panel members spoke on state policies centering on project development and discussed opportunities for expediting approval of renewable energy projects. A number of state agencies involved in the New York Public Service Law Article 10 project review process were represented and participated in the discussion, particularly in the question and answer portion of the event, seeking valuable input on opportunities to make the review process more supportive of the Governor’s “50 by 30” initiative.

Due to the success of the event and the high degree of state agency leadership’s active engagement with speakers throughout the day, IPPNY intends to convene a follow-up conference in the spring, which will likely include a focus on efforts to improve the engagement of local governments in the review process. As part of this follow up, Gene was invited to assist in developing opportunities to make the Article 10 process more responsive to the needs of project developers.