The Town of Oyster Bay extended its Battery Energy Storage System moratorium for another six months last Tuesday after a dozen residents spoke against the storage facilities.
The current moratorium, which expires on Oct. 15, was approved on April 9 and is subject to extension by the town board.
The moratorium concerns Jupiter Power Company’s proposed 275-megawatt lithium battery storage facility in Glenwood Landing, as well as the Propel NY Energy’s proposed large-scale electric transmission lines.
The proposed lithium battery facility is near the Glen Head and Glenwood Landing elementary schools, and civic associations in Greenvale, Glenwood Landing and surrounding communities have voiced their concerns.
“I have heard from residents, ‘Well, why don’t you just make it permanent?’” said Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino.
He said that making the law permanent “wouldn’t be constitutional” because the board should continue to listen to public opinion and learn more about the advancing technology.
Christine Panzeca, who spoke on behalf of fellow residents, said, “We oppose the BESS systems within the township and expect you all to extend the current BSS moratorium, preventing a rush to development and hasty decision-making that puts the public’s health and safety at risk.”
Panzeca said “technology offering renewable promises poses significant risk that can’t be overlooked.”
She said residents’ concerns regarding health and safety, battery instability and lithium-related fires, which were discussed at previous meetings, “remains unchanged.”
Some residents said that they are not opposed to renewable energy as a whole but are worried about the safety of lithium battery energy.
“I think we can all agree that we need renewable energy,” said the president of Protect our Coast LINY, Christina Kramer. “But the only renewable energy currently before us is not clean or safe energy.”
Residents raised concerns over lithium fires, which are difficult to put out.
“It is not a matter of if they will explode,” said Kramer. “It’s a matter of when.”
Fire departments are not endorsing renewable energy facilities, Panzeca said. Residents said putting a BESS facility in the town would negatively impact local firefighters.
Having the proposed facility close to elementary schools causes concern as well.
“Two of our elementary schools, Glen Head and Glenwood Landing, are within a block of where these high voltage wires are supposed to be laid down,” said Dawn Costello.
“I love our district,” she said. “We pay a lot of taxes to send our kids to that district.”
Costello said that she is concerned that children may be exposed to hazards while outside on the playground or playing sports on the high school’s campus.
Costello also discussed concerns regarding evacuation routes.
“On a good day, getting down from the North Shore to anywhere near the LIE, especially at rush hour, is a hassle,” said Costello. “There’s not that many roads heading south.”
Residents also said the Jupiter and Propel proposals have not been advertised enough. Many said they were unaware until recently that BESS systems were a town discussion.
“I feel like my husband and I are pretty well-informed citizens,” said Darlene Galati. “And we were very surprised to hear how quickly this proposal was coming to fruition.”
Resident Karen Carrero said that she belongs to various library groups and is active in the community but had not heard of the proposal until recently.
“I don’t feel like it’s been advertised enough,” Carrero said.
Residents said Jupiter and Propel have been unresponsive to concerns. Panzeca said the companies avoided residents’ questions and did not attend a recent town hall meeting held at North Shore High School.
“You value good neighbors?” Panzeca asked the board. Well, I want you to know that Propel and Jupiter refused to attend a community hall meeting last week.”
“This speaks volumes to how they address us as residents when they don’t want to show up, meet with us, answer our questions and discuss the risks they’re pushing on our community,” she said.
The resolution to extend the BESS moratorium was passed unanimously by the board.
