The Town of Oyster Bay has extended its moratorium on battery energy storage systems for another six months.
A dozen residents spoke out against battery energy storage systems at the town’s public hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 9, mainly highlighting environmental and safety concerns.
John Fabio, the president of the Greenvale Civic Association, said evidence points toward dangers for the community
“All evidence to date indicates the susceptibility of the facilities to catastrophic fires, contamination of groundwater, release of numerous pollutants into the air and endangering the community,” he said.
“All the research that is out there so far is against this,” Maryann Massari of Glen Head said.
John Blusonis said he lives within walking distance of the previously proposed facility in Glenwood Landing and was upset about its potential impact.
“We need to continue to postpone it until it dies,” he said to a round of applause. Karen Yanelli and Vincent Suraci shared similar sentiments.
“You place families in very risky situations,” Yanelli said.
“Our community should not be the guinea pig site that will be tested,” Suraci said.
Council Member Steve Labriola agreed with residents, saying, “I haven’t heard from one person in this town who is in favor of this project.”
Multiple residents inquired why the board has yet to make a permanent ban, to which town officials explained that doing so would allow for legal challenges.
The hearing had initially been scheduled over the summer, but was moved to allow more residents to be present. Some 30 residents spoke at the town’s meeting in April, all in favor of the moratorium.
Michael Montesano, the special counsel to the town attorney’s office, spoke for the town during the hearing, saying the ban is the same as the current one in place.
He said the state had even taken a small step forward in terms of updating its fire code, but residents will need to see if Nassau County adopts amendments of its own.
Many residents raised concerns about the possibility of a fire from a proposed storage facility, which is much more difficult to extinguish than a typical house fire and requires certain firefighter training.
The Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility fire in California in January caused an evacuation of the facility, extensive damage to the facility and many environmental concerns, according to published reports. This fire and multiple other incidents were mentioned at the town’s public hearing as a deterrent for storage facilities in Oyster Bay.
The extension to the moratorium is added to the end of its current ban, which was approved in April and is set to expire at the end of October.
Tuesday marked the fourth six-month moratorium that the town has imposed.
The bans on battery energy storage systems mainly stem from Jupiter Power Company’s previously proposed 275-megawatt lithium battery storage facility in Glenwood Landing.
The proposed lithium battery facility would have been near the Glen Head and Glenwood Landing elementary schools. The plan has since been abandoned, but Montesano said there is potential down the line that another application could be put forward if a moratorium were not in place.
Town officials had also previously mentioned a proposed storage facility in Bethpage at the former Grumman site.
Municipalities throughout Nassau County have opposed battery energy storage systems with all three towns having moratoriums.
Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino, along with North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jen DeSena and then Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin, spoke out against the state’s efforts to tighten its grip on local large-scale energy projects on April 1.
A few residents took the chance on Tuesday to voice their displeasure with lawmakers in Albany while backing the town’s moratorium.
The board had to take a short break to ensure the legality of voting on a resolution relating to the extension at its meeting. After the hiatus, the board unanimously approved it.
“I am proud to be voting ‘I,’” Saladino said.
“We will stand up for our residents,” Council Member Lou Imbroto said when he voted.
