Letters

I am sorely disappointed by your editorial “Carefully Forward” [June 15]. Yes, there is a difference between caution and hysteria. There’s also a difference between presenting the facts as completely as possible and a mostly one-sided, to use your word, “conversation.” You did your readers a disservice.

Let’s talk turkey:

Status: You write that the town is correct to consider a moratorium but neglect to mention that they are saying, as reported in your paper, that a moratorium would probably be too late for the BESS proposal at the Shinnecock Canal. When is an application still under review a done deal? Why aren’t you talking about that? So, what are you saying? Go ahead anyway?

Location: You don’t say that while people have concerns about lithium battery safety, they have been crystal clear that it is the canal site they consider the major problem. People are not stupid. They realize alternative energy sources are the future. That doesn’t mean everything about them is good.

Further, you write that the proposed sites are “in the western half of the town.” Wouldn’t it have been more honest to mention that they are both in Hampton Bays? The site currently before the Planning Board is a very short stroll to Meschutt Beach on Peconic Bay, in an area closely surrounded by a few hundred homes. Homes with families.

These residents are running scared, and I don’t blame them. A densely populated area in the most densely populated hamlet in town by far. A very popular recreational area open to all and used by people from all over Southampton. Instead of being recognized as citizens with genuine concerns, it is being insinuated in your editorial that they are edging toward “hysteria.”

Safety: You write that the incident in East Hampton showed how benign a malfunction at a lithium facility “can often be.” You are correct — often, but not always. Big difference, and one that must be taken into account.

You never state that theirs is only 5MHw, and the canal’s is 100MHw. The same “accident” in East Hampton could spell “disaster” in Hampton Bays. Assurances from the applicant’s paid representatives paint a rosy picture, until you actually listen to the words. They qualify almost everything they say. In other words, they do not know.

Bottom line: It would be cautious and prudent of the town to take the BESS proposal at the canal off the table now for serious and valid reasons, and move “Cautiously Forward.” And, if you want to be fair, your Editorial Board should come right out and say so.

Marion Boden

Hampton Bays