Huntington officials approve 6-month battery storage moratorium

The Huntington Town Board has approved a six-month moratorium on permits and approvals for the installation of battery storage systems in the town, citing ongoing concerns over fire safety.

Board member Dave Bennardo sponsored the resolution, which passed 5-0 at a board meeting last week.

Last month, Bennardo hosted a meeting with fire chiefs from Greenlawn, Centerport and East Northport, as well as residents and some storage system representatives, to discuss the future of such facilities.

He characterized the meeting as positive but said "there were still concerns from the firefighting community."

Town officials said two applications submitted to the town seeking to build a battery storage facility are now paused because of the moratorium. Another application, for a facility on Jericho Turnpike, has been withdrawn.

Officials in several other Long Island towns have enacted pauses in recent years on the building of battery energy storage systems, with some residents and civic groups also citing worries about fire safety.

A thermal-runaway fire at an East Hampton battery facility in 2023 prompted the Suffolk County Water Authority to file a federal lawsuit against its owners, alleging that nearby water wells were contaminated in an attempt to suppress the fire, Newsday reported earlier this month. Spokespersons for the defendants didn't respond to requests for comment for that story; it also reported that Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration, in response to Newsday questions, issued a statement that said she had "reconvened the interagency fire safety working group" on battery storage plants.

Hochul has been a proponent of energy storage, saying it will lower energy costs and help ensure reliability of New York's electricity system. Other proponents said strides have been made in safety, and that new plants in New York are subject to stringent fire codes that took effect in January.

Several people at the town board meeting last Tuesday addressed the board mostly in opposition to the moratorium.

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, a nonprofit environmental policy advocacy group, said Friday it’s “unclear” why towns keep delaying approval of the alternative energy source.

“All of these delays and moratoriums are merely a stalling tactic,” Esposito said. “At first it was absolutely reasonable to have a moratorium so that they could get siting codes done, understand the technology, train the fire department on proper response; all of that has been done.”

Town Supervisor Ed Smyth said he thinks the moratorium is the right thing to do.

“I understand the concerns of the industry lobbyists and executives that are pushing for battery energy storage systems; however, I think recent stories and incidents have demonstrated that more research needs to be done on the safety of these systems,” he said.

He added that advocates for the systems seem to be “ignoring the safety and health issues that seem to be obvious to everyone else but them.”

Esposito pushed back on that idea.

“If anything, the advocates are the ones who are up on the science, understand the state's new siting codes and understand the technology; unfortunately, elected officials are not doing their due diligence in that area,” she said.

Bennardo said the next six months "can be used to move forward in terms of a comfort level for first responders and those who respond to emergencies ... I don’t know if six months will do it, but I'm committed to six months so we can actually keep the group's dialogue going."

Newsday's Mark Harrington contributed to this story.

By Deborah S. Morris

deborah.morris@newsday.comdsvmorris

Deborah Morris is a native Long Islander and covers the town of Huntington.