Letters

In an all-hands-on-deck alert, Casey Petrashek, deputy director of politics for the New York League of Conservation Voters, called on all like-minded citizens to turn out for the Town Board meeting on July 23 to protest the continuation of the moratorium on battery energy storage system construction.

Could it be a coincidence that this alarm goes out just in time to support the increasingly desperate attempts of the speculators pushing the grid-scale battery storage invasion of a Hampton Bays neighborhood?

The lofty mission statement emblazoned on NYLCV’s website declares that they fight to protect public health. How does that square with apparent support for a scheme to jam 100 million watt hours of volatile chemical batteries into a residential community?

Where has Petrashek been? It’s as if Rip Van Winkle just woke up and missed all the reasons the moratorium was put in place and the progress Southampton has made in the interim.

To help Petrashek catch up, here’s a few things for him know:

The state of grid-scale battery storage remains about the same as when they were blowing up across New York and the moratorium was declared. Snippets of progress are reported, but it is widely accepted that this remains an “immature” technology, with incidents, including a major recent fatal one, continuing with some regularity.

Not being able to predict with certainty the safety of a BESS installation, the next best thing is to see they are sited where incidents can be anticipated and dealt with responsibly. Specifically, that means locating grid-scale battery storage facilities only in remote industrial areas and never in residential zones. That is the approach being taken by the town through the BESS Steering Committee, chaired by Supervisor Maria Moore, with the active assistance of Councilwoman Cyndi McNamara and a team of technical experts.

Rather than limiting their scope solely to the merits of the speculative Canal BESS proposal, they are systematically evaluating siting energy storage from smaller-scale residential and commercial installations to community friendly, grid-scale applications. Canal Bess is a speculative investment, backed by a string of shell companies trailing back to a Singapore hedge fund, which has yet to get the message to cut their losses and look for more appropriate sites.

Note to NYLCV: It is tragic that responsible environmental advocacy continues to be betrayed by false dichotomies, dubious alliances and artificial deadlines.

Bill Muir

Hampton Bays