Letters

BESS Steering Committee Meeting 2.0, general reactions: This group is working hard. Their agenda is not to rubber-stamp Canal BESS. There is an undertone, only tangentially referenced, that utility-scale battery energy storage systems in residential zones is off the table.

As always, Councilwoman Cyndi McNamara is a voice of reason. Very encouraging to see the collegial working relationship she has with Supervisor Maria Moore, who led the meeting cordially but deliberately. Two recent rivals working so well together restores your hope in this season of political mud-wrestling.

Technical note: A consultant from the Long Island Power Authority, identified as “Gary,” contributed to the meeting. He held the committee’s attention. But his obviously valuable remarks were lost on the video record and live feed. Town Hall’s remote audio needs fixing.

The committee spent most of the meeting wrestling with storage for residential applications. It was a little discouraging that, at this late date, there was still some struggling with the difference between megawatts and kilowatts. And when specs for residential applications were being suggested, they tended to round out to specs that are easier to track, rather than precisely meeting the needs of the application. Hopefully, good staff work will sort that out.

Lots of back and forth resolving the different requirements of zoning and fire codes. Lots of considerations introduced: spill containment, generator interconnection applications, different specs for renewable and grid feeds, the costs and specifications for burying cable.

Very encouraging to see the committee more mindful of the need for early community input. A third meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 22, at 6 p.m. for community information and input. Then we have a Town Board meeting on Tuesday, May 28, at 6 p.m. for Canal BESS LLC to plead their case to be exempted for the moratorium. Their hedge fund investors in Singapore must be worried.

Let’s turn out for these meetings to represent the voice of reason in Hampton Bays.

We have work to do and the BESS Steering Committee has work to do. This time, let’s do it together.

Bill Muir

Hampton Bays