{"id":154173,"date":"2025-08-17T22:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T22:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/154173\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T22:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T22:28:10","slug":"new-yorkers-fighting-against-massive-battery-storage-plants-find-new-ally-in-epa-chief-lee-zeldin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/154173\/","title":{"rendered":"New Yorkers fighting against massive battery storage plants find new ally in EPA chief Lee Zeldin"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Yorkers fighting the opening of massive battery energy plants in their neighborhoods have a powerful new ally: US Environmental Protection Administrator Lee Zeldin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zeldin, the former Long Island congressman, will be holding a press conference in Hauppauge Monday to discuss environmental safety issues posed by \u201cBattery Energy Storage Systems,\u201d which are hazardous when they catch fire.<\/p>\n

While not explicitly opposing BESS, Zeldin is set to issue a new EPA guidance for communities and local governments to consider regarding the environmental risks of such facilities.<\/p>\n

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is set to hold a press conference on Long Island on safety issues presented by \u201cBattery Energy Storage Systems\u201d on Monday. REUTERS\/Raquel Cunha<\/p>\n

\u201cCalling a technology \u2018green energy\u2019 does not mean there are no environmental impacts,\u201d Zeldin, the 2022 Republican candidate for governor, told The Post.<\/p>\n

He blasted the \u201cdelusional\u201d and unrealistic green energy goals advanced by Gov. Kathy Hochul and Albany Democrats amid the backlash <\/a>against the proliferation of battery storage plants across New York, including Staten Island, Queens, the Hudson Valley and upstate.<\/p>\n

\u201cResidents are looking across the country where dangerous lithium battery fires at BESS facilities have caused widespread damage, and they are concerned with New York\u2019s partisan push to fill yet another of its delusional \u2018green\u2019 goals, which the state itself admits it cannot meet<\/a>,\u201d Zeldin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany New Yorkers, especially in New York City and on Long Island, have made their voices clear \u2013 they do not want Battery Energy Storage Systems built in their neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Empire State is aggressively expanding battery energy storage systems to meet ambitious goals
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and achieve 100% zero-carbon emission electricity by 2040 under the the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019.<\/p>\n

Zeldin slammed what he deemed wacky state Democrat policies that move to limit or phase out more reliable energy sources such as natural gas to advance their climate protection agenda.<\/p>\n

A protest against a proposed lithium-ion battery energy storage system in Brooklyn on Aug. 6, 2025. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state that banned the safe extraction of natural gas, gas hook-ups on new construction, gas stoves<\/a>, and aims 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,\u201d Zeldin said.<\/p>\n

He cited recent incidents in California and Hawaii to demonstrate the serious risks BESS facilities pose to host communities and first responders.<\/p>\n

A rep for Hochul said it was bizarre to have the nation\u2019s environmental chief opposing the advancement of clean energy programs that reduce carbon emissions <\/a>to tackle climate change, aiming to improve the environment while diversifying New York\u2019s power supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cLee Zeldin\u2019s job is to protect the environment, but he has been doing anything but that,\u201d said Ken Lovett, Senior Hochul\u2019s communications advisor on energy and the environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis 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\u2019s claim of wanting U.S. energy independence,\u201d Lovett said of Zeldin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile other states are rapidly investing in storage to stabilize their grids and lower costs, Zeldin\u2019s approach risks leaving New York\u2019s economy behind and forcing New Yorkers to pay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

New York recently enacted among the most stringent battery energy storage regulations in the country in 2023 pertaining to safely developing energy storage facilities, Hochul\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

Zeldin is set to issue a new EPA guidance for communities and local governments on the plants. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post<\/p>\n

Six former city fire safety officials, including former FDNY Commissioner Tom Von Essen, praised the regulations.<\/p>\n

Since 2019, New York has approved more than 6,000 battery storage projects creating 440 megawatts of capacity, with 1.3 gigawatts already under contract and a state goal of six gigawatts by 2030, according to the EPA.<\/p>\n

New York passed two laws that dramatically expanded the state government\u2019s power to override local opposition for major renewable projects, including battery storage facilities of 25 megawatts or larger.<\/p>\n

The Hauppauge facility is not subject to a state override, but residents there have expressed widespread misgivings.<\/p>\n

Concerns include potential toxic emissions released during a blaze as well as contaminated water containing hydrofluoric acid and other pollutants being discharged into the Nissequogue River and groundwater while fighting a fire at the facility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Yorkers fighting the opening of massive battery energy plants in their neighborhoods have a powerful new ally:…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":154174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,19979,41834,6335,19300,5371,30093,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,80,23912,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-154173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-batteries","10":"tag-environmental-protection-agency","11":"tag-exclusive","12":"tag-green-energy","13":"tag-kathy-hochul","14":"tag-lee-zeldin","15":"tag-metro","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkcity","20":"tag-ny","21":"tag-nyc","22":"tag-politics","23":"tag-solar-power","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-united-states-of-america","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","28":"tag-us","29":"tag-us-news","30":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115046468996654851","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}