The Catskills’ Largest Proposed Solar Project Draws Environmental and Ethical Concerns

The solar developer, RWE, has filed its application with New York state to build a 200-megawatt solar energy and 100-megawatt battery energy storage facility in Sullivan County.

If approved, the project would be the largest permitted utility-scale solar project in the Catskills and the Hudson Valley, spanning over 1,200 acres. RWE filed its application for the Town Line Solar project with the state’s Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission (ORES) on Monday.

The nearest permitted solar facility in the Catskills region is the Flint Mine Solar project in Greene County, a 100 MW planned facility in Athens, New York, according to the ORES application map.

The proposed Town Line facility extends between the towns of Thompson and Forestburgh and would be located near the Marcy South Power line, a high-voltage power transmission line.

But some residents and local officials have flagged major concerns with the project, notably environmental risks and ethical concerns over the involvement of some property owners.

Who owns the project’s property?

Utility-scale solar projects rely on developers finding property owners willing to lease their land. Some residents Radio Catskill spoke with said they were concerned about the involvement of one of the project’s property owners: Walter Garigliano, who serves as Sullivan County Industrial Development Agency (IDA)’s legal counsel.

The site owners, according to property records and RWE’s application, include GAB Holding, LLC, GAB Land & Timber, and IMBMG Realty, LLC in the Town of Thompson, and Justin and Justine Evans in the Town of Forestburgh.

Garigliano controls GAB Land & Timber LLC and GAB Holding LLC – two of the listed property owners. While he is not explicitly listed in RWE’s application, both companies are operated by a company called GAB Capital Corp, of which Garigliano is the President.

Sullivan County’s tax records also show that GAB Holding and GAB Land & Timber list 449 Broadway in Monticello as its owner address – the law firm address of other Garigliano companies, including Walter Garigliano’s wife, Barbara Garigliano’s law firm Bluestein, Shapiro, Frank & Barone’s Monticello office.

Local IDAs are tasked with promoting economic development in an area and offering financial tax incentives like PILOTs to developers.

Garigliano said that while he offers legal counsel to Sullivan County’s IDA, he would not be involved in any IDA-related decisions with the project.

“I will not be involved in representing or advising IDA if the project owner approaches or applies to IDA,” said Garigliano in an email to Radio Catskill.

Garigliano said that he was approached by RWE and several other solar developers to lease his land. He said he was unable to discuss the lease terms as the lease contains a strict non-disclosure agreement.

Jennifer Flad, Executive Director of the Sullivan County IDA, said the agency “has not received a request for assistance relating to the Town Line Solar Project, and this project is not currently before the Board for consideration.”

Flad did not respond to our questions about how the IDA would mitigate legal or ethical concerns when solar or battery energy storage incentives or policies are discussed in IDA meetings or if Garigliano or any IDA committee members recused themselves during such discussions in previous meetings.

How have local communities responded?

Residents have fiercely pushed back against the project during county and town board meetings. During a June 4 Town of Forestburgh board meeting, residents raised concerns about wildlife displacement impacts, wetland threats, and overall project noise.

The proposed project area includes 133 wetlands, 9 ponds, 27 vernal pools, and 83 stream segments, including Melody Lake, according to application documents.

Christopher Titus was one of several residents worried about the project’s proximity to the Neversink River Unique Area – which sits just several hundred feet from the southern boundary of the project.

“1,200 acres is a lot of animals,” said Titus during the Town of Forestburgh’s June meeting. “ My goal is not to oppose renewable energy, rather to ensure that any project of this scale is thoroughly reviewed and environmentally responsible and accountable to the community that we live in with its impacts for decades to come. A large-scale solar facility in the middle of an old-growth forest is not the right move.”

READ: As Proposed Solar and Battery Storage Facility Eyes Sullivan County, Forestburgh Residents Push Back

Sullivan County resident Christopher Titus shares environmental concerns with the proposed Town Line solar project at the June 4 Town of Forestburgh meeting (Photo Credit: Kimberly Izar)

John Lamontagne, a spokesperson for RWE, said that the developer has met with Sullivan County’s town supervisors, county officials, the county’s IDA, local fire departments, and residents since 2023. RWE also hosted a community open house at Monticello High School in April 2025.

Sullivan County isn’t alone in facing fierce local opposition to utility-scale solar projects in New York state. Many communities have pushed back against similar solar proposals as the state moves towards meeting its goal of reducing emissions to 60 percent of 1990 levels by 2040. (The former mandate of 100 percent zero-emission energy by 2040 was amended in this year’s state budget.)

Pat McClellan, policy director of the New York League of Conservation Voters, said that fulfilling the state mandate doesn’t just mean replacing fossil fuels for the state’s current energy generation. It’ll require New York to add more renewable power to its already-struggling and volatile electric grid, he says.

“As demand for electricity continues to grow, as people switch to electric cars from ones that run on gasoline or diesel, as buildings switch to electric heating and cooling from natural gas or heating oil, those add more demand for electricity to the grid,” said McClellan. “ There’s a lot of volatility in the global fossil fuels market that renewable energy is just not subject to.”

McClellan says while he’s a staunch supporter of rooftop solar, this type of solar isn’t enough on its own to power New York’s aging electric grid.

“When we switch to solar and wind from fossil fuel generation, prices are more predictable. Right now, a lot of the volatility in pricing on people’s bills is driven by external events – whether it was the Russian invasion of Ukraine [or] the current war with Iran,” said McClellan.

Another concern communities have raised is that utility-scale solar in New York is using up significant USDA prime farmland. ORES came under fire last month after the Trump administration accused New York of violating USDA standards when issuing permit approvals.

But some studies show that solar currently only uses about 0.07 percent of American farmland. In New York, a study from the Solar Energy Industries Association found that golf courses and suburban sprawl use more USDA prime farmland than utility solar projects.

Who decides if the solar project is built?

ORES ultimately decides whether or not a solar project receives a siting permit.

Kim Mashke, Acting Public Information Officer for New York’s Department of Public Service, says that extensive input from local governments and communities is considered before a final decision is made.

“ORES requires early community consultation so issues like visual impacts, noise, community character, and decommissioning are identified up front before an application is filed,” said Mashke. “Developers must address these concerns in their applications. ORES carefully considers local government input and public comments throughout its review before making a final permitting decision.”

Mashke said applicants are responsible for evaluating environmental resources such as wetlands, streams, wildlife, and other agricultural and cultural resources. ORES then carefully reviews the application alongside experts from the state’s Department of Agriculture and Department of Environmental Conservation.

“There are over 60 members of ORES staff including biologists, wildlife experts, ecologists, engineers, lawyers, archeological resource experts, landscape architects, and acoustics experts dedicated to reviewing the permitting of generation and transmission projects,” Mashke told Radio Catskill.

Heather Brown, Sullivan County’s Commissioner of Planning and Community Development, said the county hasn’t been through the process of reviewing a utility-scale renewable energy project before and is moving forward cautiously.

“This whole process is pretty new to us,” said Brown.

Now that RWE has filed the application with ORES, Brown says the county and towns of Forestburgh and Thompson have access to community intervenor funds that’ll allow them access to legal representation and environmental assessments as the project moves forward.

What happens next?

ORES has 60 days to respond to RWE whether or not its application is complete.

After the application is marked complete, ORES can issue or deny a siting permit within 12 months of the developer submitting their application.

Audrey Nielsen from MuckRock’s Sunlight Research Desk provided research for this story.

Correction: A previous version of this story did not include New York’s updated state mandate of reducing emissions to 60 percent of 1990 levels by 2040.The former mandate of 100 percent zero-emission energy by 2040 was amended in this year’s state budget.

Image: Town Line Solar and Storage Project aerial view of the facility layout bordering the towns of Thompson and Forestburgh (Photo Credit: RWE )