John Mason in The Register-Star reports that a change in state law about solar energy that goes into effect May 1 has caused all sorts of public hearings and moratoriums, and April 27 it was brought up at a Columbia County Board of Supervisors Public Works Committee meeting. Committee Chairman Ron Knott, R-Stuyvesant, invited Tim Carr of Monolith Solar of Rensselaer to present an idea to put solar panels on Hudson’s capped North Bay landfill for a co-op of homeowners. But Columbia Land Conservancy, and two Hudson Supervisors have other plans for the 27-acre capped landfill that was a dumping area for household waste from 1962 to 1984, closing in 1997. Monolith's plan would be for anywhere from 300 kilowatts, for 35 households, to 2,000 kilowatts, for 250 households. Hudson Supervisors Don Moore and Sarah Sterling, did not want to use the site that way. “I’ve spent 10 years working on the LWRP [Local Waterfront Revitalization Program],” said Sterling. “We have worked so hard to preserve this area — for you to say there’s nothing happening here — we have so many ideas for this area. Let’s find another piece of property.” Peter Paden, executive director of the Columbia Land Conservancy, told the supervisors, “The grassland on that landfill could be an important grassland bird habitat,” he said. “which is important and rare.” Moore reports the proposal seemed to die in committee. Read the full story in The Register-Star.