Letters

In the August 10 front-page article on opposition to battery energy storage systems [“Opposition to BESS Facilities Continues”], reporter Tom Gogola writes, “The facilities are a necessary piece of the town’s sustainability goals … [and] are often located in residential areas.”

Where, reporter Gogola? Please be explicit.

A letter from John Porta in the same issue [“Myopic Goal,” Letters, August 10] correctly states: “Local homeowners truly have more at stake than just their own backyards if current zoning is ignored or changed to accommodate this ill-conceived location for the proposed BESS facility [in Hampton Bays]. … All who dissent from this obvious folly are deemed skeptics and climate deniers. Reason and logic have no agency in this fight to save the planet.”

At the Southampton Town Board of August 8, 30 speakers presented issues to the board members that should convince them to reconsider the zoning exception that allowed the BESS in a residentially zoned district.

The proposed facility is precisely at Southampton’s principal traffic chokepoint. The facility is also within feet of the Long Island Rail Road tracks.

Should there be a BESS accident, the East End of the South Fork would be totally cut off. Evacuation would be impossible if an accident produced dangerous air quality or, even worse, a runaway conflagration.

In the event of a fire, there is not sufficient water pressure at the location to douse the flames. It would require pumping water from the canal. The runoff laden with chemicals would flow into the canal and from there into the Peconic and Shinnecock bays.

The surrounding foliage would quickly burn and destroy nearby houses. Chemicals in the air, particularly toxic cobalt, would seriously impact the health of vulnerable residents and could even kill pets.

The very real need to secure the facility from vandals and terrorists was not addressed. The noise such facilities produce was given short shrift.

For all the foregoing reasons, the developer’s application should have been denied from the outset.

We have been informed that a six-month moratorium on the Hampton Bays North Road BESS is likely. The residents of Hampton Bays will continue our fight to cancel the project.

The fact is that a BESS is not safe in residential areas. Look at pictures on the internet. BESS grid facilities are in wide-open areas away from buildings and trees.

This is also an issue for you, the citizens of greater Southampton. A map from the town office shows more than 1,700 sites that have been deemed appropriate for BESS facilities.

You need to support our efforts now.

Sign our petition on change.org. It is easily done and it is in your interest.

Philip Metzger

Hampton Bays