NY Governor Hochul plans to issue more incentives for building lithium Ion Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) throughout New York State. (PJ July 29 “Hochul Announces Bulk Energy Storage Solicitation”),

There was no mention of the real costs and dangers BESS sites will pose to our rural communities.

Several New York towns recognize the danger of thermal runaway BESS fires and have passed laws prohibiting the installation of Battery Energy Storage Systems in their towns. These towns include Amsterdam in Montgomery County, Duanesburg and Princetown in Schenectady County, Rush, in Monroe County, Glen in Montgomery County, Somerset, and Royalton in Niagara County.

The Rush, NY BESS Law states: “Article II Section C (2) Large Scale Battery Energy Storage System Installation shall not be permitted in any zoning district within the Town.”

Numerous thermal runaway BESS fires have occurred in New York – Lyme, East Hampton, Warwick, Chaumont. Many more have occurred across the country and the world resulting in plumes of toxic gases and forcing evacuations.

A BESS thermal runaway fire emits hydrogen fluoride, methane, ethylene, hydrogen methane and heavy metal particulates.

In the Moss Landing, California thermal runaway fire January 16, 2025 many residents were forced to evacuate. They suffered chemical skin burns, burns to nasal passages, eyes, lungs. The fire at Moss Landing reignited several times over nearly a month. Heavy metal contamination of soil has been observed in nearby environmentally sensitive sites.

A Bess site could include 50 to 250 semi tractor-trailer size units connected to the grid. The cost is about $1million per MW of storage – up to $250 million per site. The electricity storage time is just a few hours. It does not produce electricity but rather sucks up electricity from the grid when there is an abundance at low rates – then returns it to the grid at much higher rates when energy production is low – as would be the case when solar and wind are producing zero power.

The common sense ways to produce power include reliable, safe, dispatchable, economical, on demand sources such as tried and true natural gas, hydro, and nuclear. None of these need any electricity storage.

Each BESS facility has a short lifespan and is constructed using rare, expensive raw materials sourced and processed using huge amounts of fossil fuel. When combined in a lithium Ion battery they are volatile – unstable – hence the frequent fires. BESS fires cannot be extinguished with water as the Hydrogen and Oxygen in H2O simply become more fuel. BESS fires require 24-hour on-site monitoring for days to spray down nearby containers to cool them and keep the fire from spreading. Having volunteers on-site spraying water 24 hours a day for days means reducing fire coverage for neighboring areas putting nearby residences and businesses at risk.

BESS components must be transported and disposed of as hazardous waste. Where will the massive quantities of unrecyclable and often toxic materials in BESS be disposed of?

Developers have claimed repeatedly to have eliminated the possibility of fires. More fires have occurred. We have no reason to believe new claims.

BESS can poison the ground, poison our wells, pollute our rivers and lakes while costing residents more in taxes and utility bills. The governor has dug a hole in New York’s economy with wind and solar – now she is digging it deeper with battery energy storage.

Karen Engstrom is a Mayville resident.