The Town of Oyster Bay board officially extended a battery-energy-storage-system ban on Thursday, April 24, when it met to give the moratorium its final approval.
The board unanimously approved the moratorium for an additional six months, set to go in effect on April 30 until Oct. 30.
We’ve continued to listen to the significant safety concerns raised during the public hearings and we will act on those concerns,” Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino said.
The board heard three people speak before voting on the adoption of the law.
It is the third consecutive ban of its kind implemented by the town. The county commission voted in favor of the town’s moratorium on Thursday, April 10. The Nassau County Planning Commission had approved the Town of Oyster Bay’s six-month extension one day later.
Thirty residents voiced their concerns regarding the possibility of battery-storage facilities in the area at the town’s public hearing on Tuesday, April 8. Speakers discussed the logistical, environmental and safety hazards associated with these kinds of facilities.
At the public hearing, Michael Montesano, the special counsel to the town attorney’s office, and Ralph Raymond, the second vice president for the Association of Fire Districts for the State of New York and commissioner of the North Massapequa Fire District, spoke to the board about extending the moratorium.
They said that the current moratorium, which states that no land-use applications for battery-energy storage systems shall be approved or processed during the period, will be changed.
Raymond served as a firefighter for over 40 years, and he spoke at Thursday’s meeting about how the local fire departments would need to purchase specialized equipment for personnel and environmental safety.
“Ultimately, we would have to shift the cost to the taxpayers,” he said.
Robert Ottaviano, a Glen Head resident and a 30-year volunteer firefighter, said firefighters are not safe to combat the threat of potential fires at energy facilities.
“I have not met a firefighter who disagreed with the position that, at this time, there are no protocols or procedures to make this safe,” he said.
Glenwood Landing resident Chris Panzeca pointed out the state’s attempts to control local zoning, which officials throughout the county have battled.
Saladino, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena and Town of Hempstead Supervisor Don Clavin spoke out against the state’s efforts to tighten its grip on local large-scale energy projects in Island Park on April 1.
“If it weren’t for you here today, we would just be dots on maps to those in Albany,” Glenwood Landing resident Chris Panzeca said on Thursday.
Panzeca also spoke with Nassau County Republicans in Long Beach on Wednesday, April 16, about the state’s push for local control over wind and energy projects. Supporters there held up signs in support of the town’s ban on storage systems.
The Oyster Bay moratorium mainly concerns Jupiter Power Company’s proposed 275-megawatt lithium battery storage facility in Glenwood Landing.
The proposed lithium battery facility is near the Glen Head and Glenwood Landing elementary schools. Community members in those areas have previously voiced their concerns with the facility, and that sentiment continued on Tuesday.
Montesano and Raymond also said a one-acre proposal for a Bethpage Battery Storage Project would feature a 44-megawatt facility at the old Grumman site.
According to published reports, the January Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility fire in California caused an evacuation, extensive damage, and many environmental concerns. The town’s public hearing mentioned that incident as a deterrent for storage facilities.
