 Borough President Vito Fossella once again raised concerns over the potential siting of a new battery energy storage system (BESS) in a residential neighborhood in Castleton Corners, during a press conference at the location. He was joined by Councilman David Carr, who represents the district where the site would be built, along with neighborhood residents.
Prior to the press conference, he was informed that the BESS facility could potentially be built on an empty lot at 1963 Victory Boulevard. The design calls for a roughly 10,000-square-foot facility featuring four power banks, which would border several houses and a number of businesses. The siting of BESS facilities in residential neighborhoods has been a significant cause for concern throughout Staten Island, particularly due to the potential risk of fires, harmful emissions, and endangerment to people and property. Fires at other BESS locations in the state over the summer, specifically in the towns of Lyme, Warwick, and East Hampton, have added to those concerns. "As we know, over the last couple of years in particular, the city and others have allowed these battery storage facilities to pop up across Staten Island, right in people’s backyards practically," said Borough President Fossella. "What we’ve been saying time and time again is while we’re not necessarily opposed to these storage units, they should not be in people’s backyards. We are here to stand united and to say this is not the right place or location for this type of facility. We appealed to the powers that be that Staten Island is unique and deserves some flexibility in siting locations of these types of facilities and the powers that be continue to ignore us. So, we have to keep fighting and try to stand in the way of this happening.” Comments are closed.
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