North Hempstead boards battery ban bandwagon

The Long Island town of North Hempstead, in New York state, has joined the list of US localities to ban BESS.

The town board brought in a 12-month ban from Dec. 3, 2024 despite the authority, in Nassau County, not having received any applications for BESS development.

The minutes of the meeting, during which board members voted six to one in favor of the BESS moratorium, stated, “The town board finds that in order to ensure … public health, safety, and welfare, a thorough examination of the risks of these facilities must be ascertained prior to the submission of any applications requesting approval for this use.

“The town board finds it imperative that the town undertake a thorough examination of these systems to identify any possible threats to public health, safety, and welfare as well as evaluate the potential for environmental degradation.”

The ruling referred to BESS fire safety-related amendments made to the New York Fire Code as a result of a working group set up by Governor of New York Kathy Hochul in July 2023, and which presented its draft fire code amendments in July 2024.

The North Hempstead minutes stated, “The town board finds that in order to enact the recommendations of the governor’s interagency fire safety working group, a [BESS] moratorium is necessary to provide volunteer fire departments sufficient time to become ‘qualified personnel,’ create an ’emergency response plan,’ and provide ‘site-specific training.’

“The town requires the moratorium to carefully evaluate the implications of BESS facilities, conform with the proposed recommendations posited by the governor’s interagency fire safety working group, and to assess how these facilities may impact the town, its residents, and its fire prevention infrastructure.”

Town board member Robert J Troiano voted against the moratorium.

Governor Hochul’s working group was established after lithium-ion battery fires in New York state in 2023 at East Hampton, in Suffolk County; Warwick, in Orange County; and Chaumont, in Jefferson County.