JORDANVILLE, N.Y. — For the third time in its nearly 100-year history in Jordanville, the Holy Trinity Monastery is faced with the possibility that wind turbines could surround the peaceful land that draws thousands of pilgrims each year to its grounds.
“We have people coming here to stay from Europe, Canada, South America,” said Rev. Luke Murianka, Vicar Bishop Eastern American Diocese. “They are all over the world; wherever the exiles fled from communism, they set up their churches. This is an international church organization.”
Murianka said if Terra-Gen, LLC’s Rolling Hills wind farm project were to move forward, it would destroy one of the main reasons people come to the religious site.
“This is the third time this has happened,” Murianka said. “The first project would have put 90 wind turbines to the east, about a mile from where we are sitting right now. They are four times higher than our bell tower.”
The business manager of the Holy Trinity Monastery Seminary has been busy attending meetings and hearings at local municipalities to learn more about the proposed project.
Archmandrite Nektarios has also been educating landowners and lawmakers about the impact a wind farm could have on the local community, the wildlife, the environment, and the health of the people that live nearby, as well as the future of the monastery.
“We are a state and nationally registered historic preservation site,” said Archmandrite Nektarios, business manager at Holy Trinity Monastery Seminary. “There should be some sort of protection under that.”
“We have 4,000 people buried in the cemeteries here,” Murianka said.
People come to the monastery to pray.
Traditionally, the Orthodox will face east to pray over their loved ones.
Instead of the current serene view shed, Murianka said, they will be staring up at “700-foot-tall monstrosities.”
“If this project, which is more invasive than the other two, moves forward, it would nearly encircle us.”
The Rolling Hills Wind project, a subsidiary of Terra-Gen, LLC, is studying the area around the monastery in Herkimer County.
NEWSChannel 2 reached out to Terra-Gen, LLC, to see where their potential project stands.
“The Rolling Hills wind project is an approximately 200-MW facility that is currently in the early stages of development,” according to Paty Mitchell, manager of communication at Terra-Gen, LLC, based out of La Jolla, California. “Although the actual project area would be substantially smaller, we are studying an approximately 30-square-mile area of primarily agricultural land in Herkimer County as a potential location for the project.”
“While development activities are ongoing, the project remains in the planning phase, and timelines will continue to be refined as permitting, environmental review, and stakeholder engagement efforts progress,” according to Mitchell.
Officials at the Holy Trinity Monastery tell NEWSChannel 2 that farmers in the area have told them they have been approached by Terra-Gen with offers to lease their land, and that other farmers and landowners have already signed leases.
Monastery officials are working with attorneys and have also alerted federal agencies like the USDA and EPA of the proposed project and its potential impacts on the surrounding farmlands.
They have written to U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as State Assemblyman Robert Smullen.
Projects that threaten prime farmland can be looked into by the USDA by alerting USDA officials at USDA.gov/lawfare.
A letter was sent from that agency to Gov. Kathy Hochul in July, looking for the State to answer questions about its soil and farmland classification.
This time around, officials at the monastery said they are up against a different beast because they worry there won’t be enough local input because
the State agency ORES, or the Office of Renewable Energy Siting, has the final say on the permitting process for green energy projects like wind and solar farms.
ORES was established in 2020 and granted additional authority in 2024.
State Senator Joseph Griffo, 53rd district, has introduced legislation to repeal ORES.
“ORES is a big problem,” Griffo said. “You have now established a bureaucracy wth no real accountability and as a result of that, they will make determinations in communities and in projects, like [Rolling Hills wind project], where despite what local government or the local community says, if ORES believes it’s needed, it will give the permit.”
Before ORES was established, the permitting process for solar and wind projects relied more on local government input.
“The first thing is to eliminate ORES, and then, we can move forward in a different, new direction,” Griffo said. “We are losing common sense.”
“We have had conversations with federal agencies because we see there is a reluctance on the State level to involved communities and to respect home rule, so beyond litigation, and litigation is ensuing in some cases, is to work with the federal government,” Griffo said.
Terra-Gen’s communication manager said, “Once in operation, its project will deliver clean, reliable renewable energy to help meet growing regional electricity demand while creating local economic benefits through jobs, tax revenue, and long-term investment unify surrounding communities.”
Monastery officials have put together the “Stop Energy Sprawl” Conference.
They have invited local lawmakers, attorneys, bloggers, environmental pragmatists and other experts.
Discussing legal and State statutes are Gary Abraham and Amy Lavine.
Talking about community impact, monastery officials have invited Alex Fasulo and Jonathan Knauth and Steve Helmin.
The conference is slated for Aug. 8 at the Monastery, starting at 9 a.m.
“This is our home,” Murianka said. “It is our duty and responsibility to guard the place, develop the place, and save the place. Whatever threatens us, visible and invisible. We need to fight against that. This is very dangerous.”
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