A coalition of environmental groups this week released a letter to the Public Service Commission urging New York officials to hasten the siting process to build solar, wind, and other renewable energy projects around the state.

“The climate challenges we face demand immediate action,” the groups wrote in the letter. “New York’s clean energy goals are laudable, but if the regulatory process is too lengthy and arduous, it will be difficult if not impossible to meet them.”

Signing on to the letter are groups that represent a range of environmental interests around the state, including Audubon New York, Catskill Mountainkeeper, the New York League of Conservation Voters, among others.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is backing an effort that would transition the state to 100 percent carbon-neutral energy sources by 2040. Much of that goal would be achieved through the construction of major wind and solar energy projects, but environmental groups as well as some for-profit businesses have raised concerns over the red tape involved in getting those efforts off the ground.

In the letter, the coalition writes that speeding up the regulatory process for approving the projects can be done in a way that would both minimize environmental hazards and allowing a siting process to go forward.