Five solar arrays have been built in Westerlo since 2017, when the town enacted its first solar ordinance. The most infamous of these constructions are the twin arrays on the Shepard Farm property, owned by Rensselaerville Town Supervisor John Dolce, which have elicited complaints from residents who feel the 90-acre spread of panels is an eyesore, or worse.

Westerlo adopted its moratorium on wind and solar energy facilities last August in response to this rapid development, with the board at the time concerned about the lack of a comprehensive plan.

If you want to vote by mail, you need to request to have an Absentee Ballot sent to you. I have been informed that the appropriate box to check to indicate if you are desiring to vote by mail is the   temporary illness or physical disability box.

Vijay Puran, a utility supervisor at the New York State Department of Public Service, who works on analysis and supervision of electric transmission lines and solar power generation siting among other things, is also a leader and founder of "Citizens for Responsible Solar Farm Placement Panel", he lives next to the site proposed for one of the commercial solar farms. Puran said his group is not opposed to solar power or renewable energy but thinks commercial sized Solar plants should be built in commercial areas not prime farmland"

This episode of the Altamont Enterprise podcast, Other Voices, interviews Grace Nichols who is a citizen scientist and also an activist. We like to call her Save the Pine Bush's Batwoman.

Grace is a former biology teacher and talks about a group she has formed to document the many species of bats that live in portions of the pine bush slated for development. In the interview she discusses the importance of the “Clunk, clunk — click, click” sounds heard on their bat detectors, the pitch too high for human ears to hear.  The recorders from a local bat expert have produced sonograms of various species — each as individual as a fingerprint. Standing near the fringes of green in the midst of suburbia, said Nichols. “You become more aware of how alive the whole world is.”

Grace Nichols was also instrumental in getting Albany County last year to pass a resolution to be pollinator-friendly. People have told her, “Grace cares more about insects than people.” Her response: “There are no people without insects.”

She also wrote a terrific letter to the editor in Altamont Enterprise, Suburban green space is vitally alive and hungry for our respect, which probably led to her being interviewed for the podcast.

We highly recommend that you both read her excellent letter and listen to this awesome interview with Grace.