By Hank Russell
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin returned to Long Island for a press conference that took place at the Hauppauge Fire Department on August 18. Joined by local elected officials, he shared with Long Islanders his concerns regarding the safety of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).
The state has been working to expedite approvals of installations of these systems in densely populated areas, especially in New York City and its suburbs, the EPA said. BESS is designed to bolster grid reliability by providing steady power flow, despite fluctuations from renewable energy and other sources. However, lithium battery fires at various installations across the country have raised legitimate safety concerns from communities nationwide, especially in metropolitan areas.
In New York, 6,000 storage projects have been interconnected to the state’s electric grid since 2019, creating about 440 megawatts of storage capacity, with an additional 1.3 gigawatts under contract. New York’s current goal is to reach six gigawatts by 2030.
In support of developing this infrastructure, New York State most recently enacted the Renewable Action through Project Interconnection and Deployment (RAPID) Act as part of the fiscal year 2025 state budget. The RAPID Act and its predecessor, the Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Benefit Act, dramatically expanded state power to override local opposition for major renewable projects, including battery storage facilities of 25 megawatts or larger — even when communities raise safety concerns, according to the EPA.
“Many New Yorkers, especially in New York City and on Long Island, have made their voices clear – they do not want Battery Energy Storage Systems built in their neighborhoods,” Zeldin said.
Zeldin — who previously served as a New York State Senator and U.S. Congressman before running for governor in 2023 — said residents are “looking across the country” where they have learned about dangerous lithium battery fires at BESS facilities.
Two of these incidents took place in California, which, according to the state, stored 6,600 megawatts of battery power in 2023.
On May 15, 2024, the Gateway Energy Storage Facility in San Diego, which stored approximately 15,000 nickel manganese cobalt lithium-ion batteries, was the site of a fire. Flare-ups continued for the next seven days. Another fire broke out at a BESS facility at Moss Landing in Monterey County on January 16, 2025. Nearly 1,200 residents had to be evacuated.
“[The Hochul administration is] concerned with New York’s partisan push to fill yet another delusional ‘green’ goal, which the state itself admits it cannot meet,” Zeldin said. “The state that banned the safe extraction of natural gas, gas hook-ups on new construction, and gas stoves, while aiming to end the sale of gas-powered vehicles, continues to put the safety and well-being of New Yorkers second to their climate change agenda. The Trump EPA will always listen to the American people.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman added, “Nassau County has roughly the same population as Suffolk County, but we’re a lot smaller geographically. We are very dense. A fire in our community could set the whole village on fire, and that’s something that concerns our firefighters each and every day.” He noted that County Fire Marshal Mike Uttaro was against the facilities “because he knows that there’s no ability for our firefighters to put them out. Our firefighters are not protected, and our communities aren’t protected.”
Zeldin told the crowd he wants to give local communities a say as to whether or not they want a BESS facility in their neighborhoods. “At the very least, we want to provide all of the information we know on BESS to utilities, first responders, permitting bodies and any member of the public who wants to get better educated on this critical issue,” he said.
The Hochul administration was skeptical of Zeldin’s claims.
“Lee Zeldin’s job is to protect the environment, but he has been doing anything but that,” Hochul spokesman Ken Lovett told Newsday. “His continued assault on clean energy and his push for rollbacks on environmental protections will hurt everyone in his home state of New York and across the country and fly in the face of the federal government’s claim of wanting U.S. energy independence.”