Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plans for the Empire State to go green are going south as local communities refuse to build massive battery plants that would store wind and solar energy.
One upstate town where a top state official leading the state’s anti-fossil fuel push just voted to ban construction of the plants — and one New York City politician has already called to pause any new sites for the facilities.
“We called for — and still support — a moratorium on these [Battery Energy Storage System] facilities almost two years ago,” said Vito Fossella, borough president of Staten Island, where more than a dozen of the facilities are planned.
“They are being placed literally right next door to people’s homes, and even next to a gas station,” Fosella said. “The city is playing with fire by allowing this type of reckless policy to continue.”
Duanesburg — where New York State Energy Research and Development president and CEO Doreen Harris lives — recently voted to ban BESS buildings because they “will pose a threat to the public health safety and welfare of residents of the Town and their property,” according to a resolution by the town board.
Duanesburg officials said they decided on the ban, first reported by the Daily Gazette, because the town relies on volunteer firefighters and that part of the town lacks access to public water. Critics have said they are not only a fire hazard, but could spark a blaze that takes longer to extinguish and would spew toxins into the air.
The BESS backlash is a blow to the state’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and achieve 100% zero-carbon emission electricity by 2040 under the the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019.
The facilities are considered vital in that green push but other communities are digging in against planned construction of the facilities, whether they are directly attached to construction of new alternative-energy plants or standalone battery plants.
Massive opposition has mounted against a 116-megawatt storage site on the Westchester County-Putnam County line. The town of Carmel in Putnam voted last October to ban lithium battery storage systems.
In an ironic twist, the Indian Point nuclear plant in Buchanan, Westchester County closed in 2020 because of public health and safety concerns and residents in the same area are now opposing the battery storage plant as a dangerous alternative.
“This is the greatest BS story told to the public,” said Roland Ciafone, a Somers resident.
Ciafone, who was a maintenance supervisor at Indian Point for 25 years, said the nuke energy plant was safer at the end of the day.
“Indian Point was the safest thing since apple pie,” he claimed.
The pushback comes after a blaze last month that erupted at one of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery storage facilities in Monterey County, California, forcing the evacuation of 1,500 residents. Scientists subsequently reported high concentrations of heavy metals in soil in the vicinity.
“This technology is ahead of government’s ability to regulate it and industry’s ability to control it,” Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church said after Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered a probe of the blaze.
“This process we are now in, which is learning as we go, just doesn’t work. It jeopardizes communities,” he said, also calling the fire the “Three Mile Island event for this industry,” referring to the 1979 nuclear meltdown in Londonderry, Pennsylvania.
Harris and NYSERDA declined to comment.
NYSERDA’s mission statement said it works to promote energy efficiency, renewable energy, and emissions reduction across New York.
