By Hank Russell
A battery storage safety bill that U.S. Congressman Andrew Garbarino helped introduce passed the House of Representatives.
The Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 365-42. The bipartisan bill — introduced by Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) — would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to publish a final consumer product safety standard for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in e-bikes and other micro-mobility devices to protect against the risk of fires caused by such batteries.
Specifically, the rule must require manufacturers and distributors of such products to comply with the applicable safety standards jointly established by the American National Standards Institute, the Standards Council of Canada, and UL Solutions Inc.
The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) reports that rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have caused more than 1,000 fires since 2019, resulting in 523 injuries, 34 deaths, and damage to more than 650 structures.
The issue of battery storage has been a topic reported on by Long Island Life & Politics. Last year, the towns of Islip and Oyster Bay extended a moratorium on battery storage, and the Suffolk County Legislature passed legislation introduced by Dominick Thorne (R-Patchogue) that makes it illegal to sell lithium-ion storage batteries that are not certified by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL), such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL).
Garbarino (R-Patchogue) said the bill is critical and needed to be passed. “[U]nregulated lithium-ion batteries are a growing and top cause of fatal fires in New York and present an acute danger to the brave firefighters who respond to these incidents,” he said. “This legislation will mitigate the risk of these devastating fires as the use of unchecked lithium-ion batteries in mobility devices, like those used in electric scooters and bikes, continues to increase.”