In New York’s mid-Hudson area, the growing number of large solar panel projects brings the promise of lower electricity bills and a smaller environmental footprint. Not everyone is excited about the clean energy endeavor, however. Many locals argue that the communities simply aren’t ready for these projects.

“It has caught a lot of local governments by surprise,” said Jen Metzger, director of the Citizens for Local Power nonprofit organization and member of the Rosendale Town Board. “This is very new for local governments still. They have not had zoning in place. Many towns, many communities are grappling with land-use issues: Where do we site these developments? What kinds of regulations should be in place?”

David Church, director of the Orange County Planning Department, came up with a model law. NYSERDA also came up with something for which Metzger offered positive feedback.

“What is great about it is not only the siting guidelines; it also covers how to regulate operations, maintenance and decommissioning. … how to structure PILOT agreements if your community is going to go that route,” said Metzger. “It’s really all-inclusive.”

Towns which have already given the go-ahead for solar power regulations also tend to include limitations on where the panels can go, how many acres they’re allowed to cover, how they should be screened from view, and the distance between them and property lines. John Hudzina, a Minisink local, expressed his concern about the screening for the project, specifically from a hill on State Line Road.

“Because of the hill, you look directly into that field where the project is going to be,” Hudzina said, ”… the buffers you guys are allowing are just not enough at all. Every time I go to work and have to look at this thing, it’s going to upset me every day until I move out of this house,” he added.

Robert Jeroloman, a project supervisor, also expressed concerns. “I can’t speak for others, but without a proper code, a solar project could be put up, and the utility (could) say it can’t take that much power. It’s like putting in 3,000 or 4,000 units of housing and not have water or sewer or stormwater infrastructure, it’s going to fail,” said Jeroloman. “That is the concern I would have.”

Many of us have gotten a text from an ex that we either had the perfect burn for, or at the very least wished we did. Well next time an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend decides to pick up their phone thinking they’re going to go back into our lives, we’ve got the perfect list of burns via text message to let them know just exactly how we feel about them. Better grab some aloe vera before reading these hard-hitting zingers.

They say that a picture speaks a thousand words and it seems like that is definitely the case in this scenario here. After this girl’s ex decided to reach out and try and get back into her life, she had the perfect antidote to him trying to mess up her situation.

Rather than respond with a clever comeback or waste any time thinking of some sort of burn she just sent him a photo with her new beau and only one word attached.

This guy must have some really good friends that he would trust them with his phone. Although it seems like that trust was a bit misplaced in this case after his friends came in and started messing with his contact list.

After they changed all his contacts he assumed that his ex-girlfriend’s name had been changed around as well. Turns out, that was the one name on his phone that his friends hadn’t tried to mess around with.

As if the scissors emoji rather than an actual name weren’t enough of a hint that this woman wanted nothing to do with her ex, then her curt response certainly got the message through.

After her boyfriend messaged her with, “I always want to text you and tell you I miss you but never do. I miss you.” She decided not to mince words and let him know that him never doing that was exactly the right choice to make.

Pizza is one of those unifying foods. Unlike a burger, it’s meant to be shared between friends or, in this case, between a lovely dating couple. Who knows how many pizza nights these two had together, perhaps at restaurants or in front of the television.

So after having a pie by himself this guy couldn’t resist telling his ex-girlfriend that he was thinking about her. Turns out she was also having a snack that made her think about him.

Who says that having bad taste and low standards is a bad thing? After all according to this exchange it got these two together and then subsequently broke them apart which, in turn, gave us this hilarious text message exchange.

After this guy tried to insult his ex-girlfriend by suggesting she had low standards she cleverly turned it back on him giving him a red hot burn that he’s likely not to recover from for a very long time.

They say it takes times of tragedy to bring people together. Well when Joey heard about the flooding that had happened near his ex-girlfriend’s apartment, he thought it would give him the perfect excuse to talk to her.

Unfortunately for him, she had already moved on. Not only did she delete his number, ensuring she would never break and text him, but rather than respond to his affection she decided to throw a sweet burn right back at him.

We’ve all made mistakes in our lives before, sometimes it takes a moment of reflection to look back and see how our actions have negatively impacted our lives. When we do it’s our responsibility to learn, grow, and mature so that we can be better humans.

Or there’s the second option of going and crawling back to our exes (if that was the situation) and begging them to take us back. Of course, it’s important to double-check your spelling first.

Oh boy, this one is a bad one. Not only is this person texting their ex telling them that they want them and they love them, but they’re doing it on their own wedding day. So not cool! On their wedding day texting their ex, sheesh.

We only have to wonder just how messed up this relationship must be in order for that to happen. If it’s not bad now it’s probably not going to last for too much longer.

When reaching out to an ex, a person is really putting themselves on the line. They’re baring their soul, letting their former partner know that they are still harboring intense and consuming feelings that are compelling them to reach out to this person.

Of course, when one opens themselves up, there is always the chance that things will backfire, such as what is going on here. This was the response to the question, “Is it bad I miss dating you?”

Having a relationship is something that can take up a lot of a person’s time. There’s being there for them, making time to spend with them, date nights, comforting them in their time of need. It’s a lot of time to commit to one person.

With so much else in the world going on it’s easy for some people to distract themselves from their exes when they come pinning back to them as can be clearly seen by this exchange.

This text message exchange is an example of how direct communication can often be the best form of communication for a couple. When this person was messaging their ex telling them that they were bored, likely as an invitation for the other person, their ex had the perfect comeback.

We’re not sure if their ex got engaged and was telling them to buzz off or if they weren’t interested in something casual, either way it’s a pretty effective return message.

Some people are somehow able to convince themselves of the most bizarre things. In this case, this person decided that their cheating on their partners was somehow an “accident” and that they were overdue for some forgiveness.

Well forgiveness definitely wasn’t coming their way by their former partner. After getting that message this ex was more than happy to remind them that cheating isn’t some sort of accident that just happens like slipping on a banana peel and falling over.

Making a deal with someone is hard, ask anyone in the business or political world. But making a deal when the other side has been hurt after being broken up with is just short of impossible.

When this guy realized he was missing a few of his prized personal possessions he messaged his girlfriend begging for them back. But she wanted something in return, looks like it was something that he had taken, and wasn’t able to return to her.

When this guy decided to text his ex-girlfriend Ashley, he should’ve noticed from her not responding that she wasn’t interested. But hey, he thought why not just persist a little bit, maybe if she noticed that he really cares she’ll come back to him.

Fellas, this is not the way to do things. Persistence is great if it’s in a black and white movie but in the real world, continuing to text a girl means you’re gonna get burned.

Inappropriate seems to be the name of the game in this relationship. We’re definitely curious as to what the text before the first one sent was. Was there something terribly inappropriate in that message, or was the act of texting itself the thing that was over the line?

We don’t know, but we can confidently say that it was not the most inappropriate thing that happened in this couple’s relationship. Hopefully, that burn was the end of this particular conversation.

Ah yes, the classic “can I get my stuff” message that has to be sent at the end of every relationship. Well, it doesn’t technically have to be sent but it’s better than just abandoning everything with an ex… isn’t it?

Well in this case it would’ve probably been better to just leave everything there, especially after seeing what this guy’s ex-girlfriend was planning on doing with it. Next time just let her have all the stuff, man!

Love can make us all do and say some crazy things, as can be exemplified by this text message exchange. This woman had decided to rename her ex in her phone as Ex Charming (which is already pretty funny) and wasn’t about to let him come back into her life under any circumstances.

After he professed his love for her and told her he’d die on her porch she welcomed it, knowing that the trash would soon be carted off.

Nothing like inventing last-minute plans to avoid hanging out with an ex right? Well the person on the left seemed to be building up the courage over their first two text messages to ask out their ex.

By their third message, they finally made the leap with a little “Whatcha doing later?” While the initial response had been nothing, this person suddenly had plans come up after an invitation to hang out was followed. Better luck next time we hope.

Maybe things had finally been getting back to normal between these two when the first person decided to ask for the account password for HBO.

No doubt these two had sat back plenty of times and watched many of the great shows that HBO has on its channel before they had broken up. But that little deal seemed to be done by the time they were over, with their ex just sending them the word “Hodor” nonstop.

Sometimes initial intentions can be deceiving. After this guy told his ex-girlfriend that he was joining a boxing gym he likely hoped that she’d be impressed with him taking up a combat sport.

Things definitely looked good in the beginning, maybe things would improve and the two of them would be able to get back together. Well apparently this assumption was wrong, the only thing that excited her about boxing was the chance of seeing him take a punch.

In a relationship that’s as messed up as this one, asking how just one person is doing turns into asking how a total of four people are doing.

When this woman asked her ex-boyfriend how things had been going he made it clear that he wasn’t ready to forgive her for everything that she had done while the two had been together. There are just some things that happen in a relationship that no amount of time can truly heal.

This guy should have realized that if you have to beg a girl to come over then you’ve probably already lost. Especially if that girl happens to be your ex-girlfriend who you have clearly upset while the two of you were together.

Well he didn’t, and kept things going, assuming there was some sort of hidden feelings that she had for him. Turns out those feelings weren’t hidden at all, and she was more than happy to show them.

There’s something about cuddling that is so important to people, but can only be found in the most intimate of relationships. So when this person was dying for a cuddle they thought it would be a good idea to reach out to their ex.

Well their ex wasn’t about to have any of that, and had a great way for them to stay warm. Not by cuddling, but rather by texting them this burn which they’re not cooling off from.

It’s a hard lesson that everyone has to learn at one time or another that not everything in life is made to last. After all, if even the universe is expanding can we really expect anything to stay the same?

As we leave everyone to ponder that question let’s focus on something else that didn’t last, the Spice Girls. A fact that this guy was reminded of after he got the bright idea to tell his ex-girlfriend he missed her.

If there’s one lesson that we can take away from this list is that not everything is as it initially appears. For instance, after this guy saw his ex-girlfriend, Taylor, typing on Snapchat, he thought that maybe she was about to send him one of those classic “I miss you” texts, maybe attached to an alluring photo.

Apparently he was completely and utterly wrong, a fact that his ex-beau Taylor was more than happy to tell him via text message.

Want to know how to get over an ex? Well according to this text message exchange it seems that laughter appears to be the right way to do it.

After this person’s ex sent him a text, “I miss you,” one that we’re all used to seeing on this list, the ex had the right response waiting up their sleeve. Rather than find a clever comment the bombarded his ex with laughter right before waving them a short goodbye.

Those time stamps on text messages are certainly handy. They let us know exactly when someone messaged us so we can see how long they’ve had to wait until we were able to get back to them.

Or, in the case of this former couple’s exchange, they can see precisely the moment that someone’s day got ruined by a needy ex trying to get back together with them. Not to mention they also provide ammunition for some really great burns.

Emoji speak is a language that only the most texting literate can understand. Of course it doesn’t take a genius to be able to understand what the lewd message this guy was sending to his ex-girlfriend.

Luckily she’s pretty fluent in Emoji messaging as well and let him know exactly what would happen if he tried to carry out any of the images that he had sent to her in the initial text. Hopefully, he took the warning seriously.

Here is somebody who is clearly fluent in the language of sarcasm and has no problem letting his ex know exactly how he feels about her, after giving her the roundabout of course.

After getting a text asking if he was free he pretended not to know who this was even though he clearly had her name saved in his phone. After she finally told him he hilariously called her the devil sending her into fits of annoyance and anger.

You’ll never forget the feeling of looking deep into your true love’s eyes. There’s a lot of intimacy involved in making extended eye contact with someone, so doing so is usually a pretty good sign that you’re into somebody and they’re into you.

Of course, if you’re this person then maybe you should’ve paid a little closer attention. Maybe next time don’t get so lost looking into the eyes of an ex.

Someone had clearly been on the internet Googling some astronomical facts before sending this message to his ex. While it was funny, there is something a little desperate about Googling obscure facts just for a burn.

But, at the same time, we do have to admire his determination to create a sick burn, and how beautifully it all just fell into place. They say the best-laid plans tend to go awry but in this case it went perfectly.

When Matt decided to text his ex-girlfriend he must’ve had one too many… Well, it’s clear to see that he wasn’t totally sober. After having dated this girl for a while she was clearly aware of when he was normal and when he was acting a little fuzzy.

As a result when he opened up and told her how he felt she was a little suspicious. A suspicion that was not confirmed but may have actually been very true.

Well you know this person is serious because before their first text they made sure to write, “I’m not kiddin.” So obviously when they start a conversation telling the person not to talk to them that is exactly what they mean.

They’re definitely not looking for a little attention or sympathy from their ex after having a bad day. Maybe looking to turn things around in their relationship after realizing how much better off they were with their old partner.

It looks like this couple doesn’t talk too much based on these two text messages. Apparently the woman whose phone it was felt that this guy wasn’t going to be too big a part of her life and decided that it would be more amusing and more efficient to just save him as an emoji.

It may not be the most polite thing to do but we have to respect how honest she was telling the guy this awkward dilemma.

In all honesty, what kind of response was this guy expecting after cheating on his significant other? Words really don’t mean a single thing if your actions say the complete opposite. At least, that’s what this gal was thinking when she heard what her unfaithful ex-boyfriend had to tell her.

Nice try, bud, but you can’t trick her into taking you back. The ship has clearly sailed on this one so perhaps you should move on and learn from your past mistakes…

Yep, that’s right. You read it correctly, pal. It’s been a while since you’ve spoken to your ex and she evidently wants to keep it that way.

Whether you were feeling lonely and wanted someone to talk to or you simply just missed her, one thing is very certain — your ex-lady doesn’t want to have anything to do with you. And while the rejection may have hurt your ego, we’re assuming the breakup was even harder to get over.

Now, that’s a proper burn if we’ve ever seen one! This gal basically made a walking cliché out of herself when she texted her ex to say that they’ll never find anyone like her.

What she probably wasn’t expecting, though, was to receive what we’d consider the most epic response to make this list — it’s simple and to the point. From the sounds of this curt reply, it’s clear that this lady’s ex isn’t wasting even one more second on this relationship.

Well, that’s too bad. It looks like this little lady missed her chance to get back together with her ex-boyfriend as he has since moved on. If only she had just messaged him a few months earlier — maybe she wouldn’t have received this kind of response in return.

Still, there’s no use in playing the “what if” game or pining after someone that no longer thinks about you, which is why this guy finally moved on after six months. Now, perhaps she should try doing the same…

Ha! There’s really nothing like the sweet satisfaction of dissing your ex after they’ve stomped all over your heart and broke into pieces.

This guy was probably expecting something touching and heartfelt from his former partner — i.e. “I could never forget about you! You are my one, true love…” — after sending a text to essentially set them free. What he got instead must have come as quite a shock although we have to admit that it gave us a pretty good laugh.

Call us crazy but it almost sounds like this person has been subconsciously pining over their former lover considering the kind of dream they had — well, a dream for them and a nightmare for the other party that was involved in this relationship.

In any event, while the heart may want what it wants, it doesn’t seem like there’s much of a possibility that these two people are going to get back together. Not any time soon, at least.

We hate to say it but if you hate sleeping alone so much, perhaps you should have thought of that before you went off and cheated on your girl. While you’re feeling lonely and missing her cuddles, your ex-lady is peacefully asleep.

In fact, she’s sprawled out in the middle of her queen size bed dreaming of real men who know how to treat a lady rather than little boys who are afraid of commitment. That’s right — we just went there.

And ‘BOOM’ goes the dynamite! We think it’s safe to say that this is one of the greatest clap-backs to ever grace the internet. We’re not entirely sure why this guy reached out to his former partner to insult them but perhaps he should have learned how to spell “cliché” and “tattoo” before doing so.

In any event, his words didn’t mean a thing. Rather than his ex letting the text get to her, she just used the message to her advantage and spun it into an ice-cold burn!

We’re guessing this fella never actually ended up making it as big as he thought he would. Honestly, though, how pathetic do you have to be to send a text like this to your former partner?

And if this guy really wanted to make his ex-wife jealous, he should have probably left the part about his mom out of it. In any event, his ex-wife couldn’t have replied with a more perfect response than this one. Good luck in Hollywood, bud!

That’s right, dollface! Blockbuster isn’t a thing anymore and clearly, neither is your relationship! So, rather than going after someone that doesn’t want you anymore, do yourself a favor and start coming to terms with the fact that you’re not going to get back together with your ex.

Just as you once had to do when you realized you could no longer get movies from the local Blockbuster rental store. Luckily, we now have Netflix! Oh sorry, did we get off track? Anyway bud, it’s time to get over her…

Usually, when you ask someone for recommendations, you expect to receive a list of landmarks and restaurants. This ex-girlfriend, though, basically walked right into a pit of fire when she decided to message her former lover for some vacation suggestions.

According to his response in return, it sounds like this lady screwed her ex-boyfriend over in an unforgivable way. In any event, we think it’s safe to say that she learned her lesson from this point on…

Wait, what? Did we read this whole text exchange correctly or are we going crazy? Did this guy really ask his ex-girlfriend — and even offer to pay her — to iron his pants for a job interview? If he did, then he must be delusional.

If we’re being real, that kind of treatment is really only for current partners so the fact that this dude even thought it was okay to text his ex-lady and ask her something like this only proves that she’s better off without him. Good luck with your interview, though!

Just from one glance at this conversation, it’s clear that this dude was looking for a reason to text his ex so he came up with this ‘brilliant’ question. After all, we’re sure he had plenty of other contacts — or unbiased third parties — that he could have asked but he thought that this was a sure way back into his former partner’s life.

Unsurprisingly, though, his ex didn’t want to have any part of it and ended the whole exchange before it really even got started.

We hate to break it to you, bud, but you pretty much set yourself up for that kind of burn. If you didn’t want that response, you probably shouldn’t have messaged your ex, to begin with. Perhaps now, though, you’ve learned your lesson.

Whatever the reason for your breakup was, it’s crystal clear that your former lover wants no part in this conversation. So, let bygones be bygones and move on with your life. Also — maybe get a sense of humor because their response was hilarious if we’re being totally honest.

Ouch! Whether or not this was a clever diss, we can’t help but feel that it was just a bit unwarranted. From the looks of it, this guy’s ex-girlfriend hadn’t even messaged him yet he felt the need to call her out and basically call her “crazy.”

Not cool. This guy may not want to admit but it seems like he’s actually the one pining over his ex and rather than letting go of his pride by admitting that, he decided to insult her instead. She’s better off without you, buddy!

Seriously? If you’re texting your ex in hopes to get back together, you’re probably not that into the girl you’re planning on proposing to. If this is really how you do things, you’re in for a whirlwind of trouble…and divorce.

It’s clear that your ex has since moved on and is entirely sure that there’s no hope for you two. Perhaps you should try working on yourself and mending your broken heart before committing to someone else for the rest of your life…

It’s obvious that after a break up not everyone wants to see their ex again. Sometimes that’s just a little too hard after having just had their heart broken by their former lover.

So when this person’s ex came knocking to come get their stuff back, they made sure to have a trip to Las Vegas scheduled so that they wouldn’t have to be there. What they weren’t counting on was that their ex would grab a few extra souvenirs.

This guy should’ve done a bit more reading before sending his ex-girlfriend an epic love ballad using pop culture references. We wish we could see the full extent of this amazing monologue, but even this excerpt is enough to get the gist of it.

After describing how fortunate he felt having dated this woman, he compared their love to that of Kanye and Beyonce. How the heck did he not know who these two were married to? It’s not like everyone isn’t talking about it almost all the time. Maybe if he had paid a bit more attention she would’ve liked the message.

Sometimes the best response to a difficult message is just no response at all. Or, as many people like to call it a non-response. This non-response also served as a sweet burn to an ex-boyfriend who didn’t deserve to get back together with his girlfriend.

At least in her mind, obviously we don’t know too much about the specifics. What we do know is that he made up his mind, her looking hot doesn’t change a thing.

This one would be mean if it weren’t just so darn funny. After asking their ex if it was at all possible to get back together, this person actually got a yes!

Who knows just how long they were sitting and staring at their phone, wondering if they should open themselves up and press send. After they did they were hit with that feeling of elation just before being hit with the crushing disappointment that they had been initially fearing.

Another one of those awkward moments where someone saves the other person as something that isn’t even close to their name. In this case, this woman saved her ex-boyfriend in her phone as “Waste Of Time.” We can only take a guess as to why.

Well, once again honesty and directness saved the day in this story. After telling him that she had changed his name he wasn’t at all offended, rather he understood why she would do that.