Global climate change threatens lives, livelihoods, and ecological systems across the globe, necessitating drastic transformation to energy production and consumption patterns. One of the side-effects of clean energy policies is increasing land development pressure in primarily rural places from utility-scale solar (USS) energy production facilities. USS facilities are not an unequivocal public good, and their social and political dimensions remain poorly documented and understood. This study uses mixed methods to better understand public attitudes and opposition to USS in upstate New York and critically examine the distributive and procedural justice of state energy policies. The results of a mail survey of upstate residents (n=575) reveal support for utility scale solar is significantly lower than support for community or rooftop solar. For many, USS represents an industrial activity that negatively impacts the rural landscape. Support for USS is often relational, in that many residents question the need for utility-scale development in rural landscapes when the same technology could be deployed on rooftops or other already developed spaces. A sub-sample of survey respondents (n = 421) live in counties with substantial proposed USS development in northern and western New York. We find that 42% of those residents oppose USS installations in or near their local communities. This opposition is shaped by perceived energy colonialism – the idea that rural areas are unfairly treated as internal colonies of urban demand centers to support the energy transition. Most notably, perceived distributive and procedural injustice, along with place attachment have the strongest effect on opposition, while socio-demographics, political ideology, and climate change belief were insignificant. Next, drawing on qualitative data from policy documents, observations of public meetings, and interviews with key informants, I identify procedural and distributive justice concerns are shaped by three state policy structures: the preemption of local land use authority, long-term contract awards, and changes to tax regulations. This study highlights tension between energy justice principles and large-scale renewable energy development; policies to support a more just transition need to engage more collaborative decision-making processes and safeguard community economic benefits from USS development. Finally, the limitations of this work, as well as implications for future research are discussed.