Southold approves BESS moratorium extension

Southold Town Board unanimously approved a 12-month extension of the temporary moratorium on Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) facilities April 16 for a third year. 

The Town Board’s decision overrode an April 8 Suffolk County Planning Commission report that “conditionally approved” the moratorium extension, but required the town return every three months to provide status updates on the code provisions and request extensions for the moratorium at those intervals. 

Rationale for the commission’s decision was that the New York Fire Code, in conjunction with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s working group to examine fire safety and the security of BESS systems, would be adopted in the first three months of the moratorium extension. 

Councilman Greg Doroski said the Town Board believes the commission’s conditions of approval would have “no practical value” for several reasons. The fluid state of BESS facility regulations in New York — as final fire code recommendations have not yet been determined, and the town’s comprehensive zoning update not being finalized were chief reasons for the board cited for its decision.

“The twelve month extension of this moratorium is a reasonable and necessary exercise of te town’s authority to preserve the status quo while the town reviews all of the above issues and can craft code necessary to address them,” Mr. Doroski said. 

He added that the moratorium’s language is specific and only restricts BESS facilities — affecting no other energy use development plans. 

Lucia Yu, a project developer for Key Capture Energy — the New York-based company that proposed a 60-megawatt, lithium-ion battery storage system and a new Long Island Power Authority substation on a 27-acre parcel on Oregon Road in Cutchogue — expressed opposition to the moratorium at the hearing. She urged the Town Board to limit the moratorium extension to a three-month period. 

“All BESS facilities in New York state are being designed to incorporate these new [state fire] codes, and KCE is ready and willing to meet any final standards that are required,” Ms. Yu said. 

Six community members supported the decision during the public hearing before the board voted. Roughly 20 people attended the meeting in person and on Zoom. 

Alix O’Mara, a member of the Friends of Oregon Road group, strongly supported the moratorium extension.

“It would make no sense to end the moratorium prior to the town finalizing the new zoning code that protects Oregon Road,” Ms. O’Mara said. “But just as significant, is the fact that the draft code prepared by the town’s task force is woefully deficient and therefore does a disservice to the Town Board and to the residents of Southold.”

John Kongoletos, chair of the Southold BESS task force, said the group had not yet received feedback about the draft recommendations and welcomes public comment on the matter. 

“If you can submit any feedback to the town, it would be helpful for us to have that on file and then be able to proceed with filling in any gaps we may have missed,” he said. 

Ms. O’Mara noted that the proposed Key Capture facility would be built next to farm land in Cutchogue, and a fire at the facility would “render that land unsafe for farming.” 

She referenced a BESS facility fire in Moss Landing, Ca., and the environmental and public health crisis it caused in that community. The California facility had roughly 100,000 lithium ion battery modules, most of which burned in the blaze, according to a Feb. 10 report by The New York Times. Tests conducted by a state agency and San Jose State University both detected cobalt, nickel and manganese in topsoil in the area that allegedly exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s risk level for residential soil, per The Times report. 

“These chilling facts are enough to prove that our community should be protected from these developments that don’t have enough potential benefit to justify exposing us to the environmental hazards,” Ms. O’Mara said. She said BESS projects, if built, should be fashioned far from any homes, hospitals, schools and environmentally sensitive areas.

Mattituck resident Chris Shashkin echoed Ms. O’Mara’s concerns at the public hearing, referencing Moss Landing residents’ fear of toxic plumes from the January fire. 

North Fork Environmental Council member Anne Murray also supported the moratorium extension. She said the organization thought it was “wise and prudent” for the Town Board to hold off on BESS applications until the code issues are resolved and finalized.