The Nassau County Planning Commission has approved the Town of Oyster Bay’s six-month extension of its battery energy storage systems.
The extension goes into effect on April 30 and will expire on Oct. 30. 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.
“We thank the Nassau County Planning Commission for seeing how important it is to keep the moratorium in place,” Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino said in a statement after the vote. “Our residents have been clear—they’re still worried about the possible risks these facilities could bring to their neighborhoods. More reviews and investigations are needed before we even think about allowing them in our town.”
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.
The 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, and civic associations in Greenvale and Glenwood Landing. Community members in those areas have previously voiced their concerns with the facility, and that sentiment continued on Tuesday.
Montesano and Raymond also said there is a one-acre proposal for a Bethpage Battery Storage Project that would feature a 44-megawatt facility at the old Grumman site.
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. That incident was mentioned at the town’s public hearing as a deterrent for storage facilities in the town.
Saladino, along with Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jen 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 on April 1.
