Plattekill Supervisor Dean DePew said on November 20 the Town Board will hold a public hearing on a six month moratorium that will prohibit any review of an application for a Battery Storage facility in town. The resolution will also state that the board will have the option to renew the moratorium for another six months. The Supervisor expects this resolution will be approved and does not anticipate the need to extend the moratorium beyond one year.

 

Supervisor DePew said before the public brought their objections forward about this type of facility, the Town Board had formed a committee upon hearing the possibility of this coming to the area.

 

“We didn’t know of any specific project at that time, but we felt like it was going to come,” he said.

 

DePew said the committee consisted of one member of the Town Board, one member of the Planning Board and the town’s Building Inspector.  This resulted in the committee looking at other towns who were facing the same issues of Battery Storage companies seeking to locate within their towns. The committee also took several field trips to other towns who were already having problems, “and that is what triggered us getting involved in researching it. We didn’t feel a moratorium should be put in right away until we educated ourselves because it is six months and we didn’t want to waste time and keep on a moratorium any longer than we would have to.”

 

DePew said Mission Clean Energy was interested in a parcel of land off of Camp Sunset Road at the end of Rabbit Run.

 

“It was about 100 acres on the southern side of Camp Sunset and that was also a parcel that Ulster County was previously looking at to site a county-wide landfill, which they decided not to do,” he said. “It’s vacant land and a high-powered transmission line goes through that property.”

 

DePew said that parcel appealed to the company because, “they could carry the power from the battery storage up to the line. Where that power would be transferred to could be anyplace in the country, not specifically local. We would benefit with a facility but without benefiting from the actual power that was stored.”  

 

DePew is also concerned about the tax money from the facility.  

 

“Most times green energy programs come with a PILOT [payment in lieu of taxes] through the tax laws and with very little money coming into the community,” he said. “It could be a 20 year PILOT.”  

 

DePew said there are questions about the environmental and fiscal impacts from these facilities upon the residents and the town, “health-wise, risk-wise and what it would do to homes and property values in the immediate area and in the entire town.”

 

DePew is also concerned about fires that have occurred at battery storage facilities.

 

“It seems like they should come up with another type of battery but lithium batteries are very volatile,” he said.

 

DePew recalled that when Mission Clean Energy gave their presentation they had a retired New York City fireman respond to questions about fire mitigation measures at these facilities.

 

“Would the fire department need specialized instructions, specialized equipment, what would that look like, what would that cost and he said they would do the training and it would be very simple; he said one word- retreat – and honestly that said it all for me. In anticipation of a fire or some kind of emergency, we’re supposed to back away. We looked at all of those aspects and all in all, I’m sure there will be people that disagree with me, but in my opinion, right now, I don’t see the value. I think the dangers of having it definitely outweigh the benefits; the juice is not worth the squeeze.”

 

The Public Hearing on the Moratorium is scheduled for 7p.m. at the Town Board’s Nov. 20 meeting, Town Hall, 1914 Route 44/55, Modena.