Letters

Although Michael Wright’s coverage of the June 26 Town Board meeting on the topic of battery energy storage systems was accurate [“Board To Extend BESS Moratorium,” June 27], he glossed over a few points.

When Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni asked the attorney for Canal Southampton BESS why they needed an adjournment to present their argument for exemption, Keith Archer responded that a team member was not available, and “life happens.”

This elicited an audible reaction from the audience. The applicant needed the adjournment because they had not completed the requirement to provide public notice. Mr. Archer said, “I thought the town was going to do the public notification to the civic associations.” These excuses are akin to saying the dog ate my homework.

The article implied that the residents of Hampton Bays are needlessly concerned about fire. It stated that “experts and sustainability advocates say the fears are overblown” and compared the proposed North Road facility to the East Hampton facility, which had a fire a year ago and is still out of commission.

The East Hampton BESS is 5 MWs — the proposed North Road BESS is a 100-MW facility. This comparison is meaningless. The experts repeatedly claim that lithium batteries (in their latest iteration) are relatively safe. This is tantamount to saying that 140-degree water is relatively safer than 160-degree water. They are both dangerously hot.

For over a year, the residents of Hampton Bays have respectfully comported themselves and provided essential information that had not been fully considered before. Environmental concerns were raised, such as the site’s proximity to the Shinnecock Canal and within a half mile of Meschutt Beach, a popular family recreational area.

Noise pollution, a significant issue, has never been quantified. Emergency responder training has barely been touched upon. Evacuation considerations have never been discussed. Decommissioning responsibilities are still vague. And so on.

The article described the size of the North Road BESS as a 30-battery storage system enclosed in a steel building. This is misleading. Unless the specs have changed, the North Road BESS proposal describes 30 trailer-size containers with a total of 720 batteries. The steel building is news to me.

Southampton Town residents should take the time to watch the BESS Steering Committee meetings. There is much being discussed that has never been considered before. The steering committee is composed of Town Board members, planning staff, code enforcement, police and fire officials, and industry experts. They are gathering data to develop guidelines and regulations for BESS siting. This work is long overdue and greatly appreciated.

Let’s let them do this analysis and ignore the expert’s tut-tuts until the steering committee’s work is done.

Brigid Maher

Hampton Bays