Panama continues discussion on BESS moratorium
Trending
PANAMA -- Panama officials are continuing to research a possible moratorium on battery energy storage facilities in the village.
In July, board members began a discussion on whether or not the village would want to place a moratorium on battery storage and wind facilities. The mayor and village officials are still continuing to look into this issue.
Mayor William Schneider said during the August board meeting that he is still looking into things, but what the town of Harmony has done is, they have left one area of the town where a facility could possibly go in.
"I'm not sure if we have to look at that or if we could put a full ban on it, because we don't have that much area," Schneider said.
Schneider noted after last month's discussion and article in The Post-Journal, there were a few different comments on the issue from people, adding that this discussion and potential ban is simply to look out for village residents. Upon his research, Schneider said he has found that these facilities "can be very nasty", and he plans to still get together with Code Enforcement Officer Melanie Eddy to continue researching and looking into what other municipalities have done.
Once the town's law regarding battery storage facilities is set, as it is currently with lawyers right now, Schneider said he would like to take a look at it and see what it involves. It was also noted that there is really nowhere in the village a facility could go that would be away from homes.
"Since we're such a tight space, the danger zone is too big," Schneider said. "It would take up the whole village."
The board discussed the layout of the village and that in the town's law they believed that it is worded that a facility could only go in an industrial space. They also discussed any potential places a facility could go in the village. Schneider added though, that if there was a facility and issues occurred, they would possibly still end up having to evacuate the whole village. Schneider expressed his wish that the county would do some classes on the subject. Village Trustee Todd Eddy said there is a man in Ripley that has done a lot of research on the subject, and it might be possible for him to come and talk with the village or for them to get in contact with him as well, as their research continues.