Jordanville, New York, May 7, 2026
Photo: townnews.com
Members of Holy Trinity Monastery and local residents staged a peaceful demonstration on April 28 against a proposed industrial wind energy project near the historic Orthodox monastery in Herkimer County.
The protest initially gathered in front of Knotting Hill Farm in Jordanville, where Terra-Gen Rolling Hills had planned to host a private “landowner dinner.” After learning the event had been relocated to the Estate at Maplewood in Richfield Springs, demonstrators moved their protest to the new location, report WKTV.com.
The proposed Rolling Hills Wind Project would create a 250-megawatt development with approximately 70 to 74 wind turbines near the monastery property. The project would span roughly 75,000 acres across six towns in Herkimer and Otsego counties.
“We have a very historic and religious attachment to be able to see and look to the east unobstructed. This is all something that is really important to us, and to be hindered by a rotating windmill, instead of the sun, because we don’t know where they’re going to be—is it going to flicker out the sun every morning?” said Holy Trinity Monastery’s Archimandrite Nektarios.
Opponents of the project have expressed concerns that it could harm local wildlife and impact more than 17,000 acres of natural landscape. According to the protesters, leases have been signed covering 14,322 acres in the affected towns.
His Grace Bishop Luke of Syracuse, who serves as abbot of the monastery and rector of the seminary, has issued several statements on the matter in recent years.
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia’s Holy Trinity Monastery and Seminary is designated as a National Historic Site and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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