Oyster Bay Eyes Extended Battery Storage Moratorium

On a Wednesday evening in March, Oyster Bay residents packed a town board hearing to make one thing clear: they are not ready to welcome battery energy storage systems into their community, and they don’t want their elected officials to be either.

The town board is considering a 12-month moratorium on approving battery energy storage systems, which would extend the current ban through April 30, 2027. The current moratorium expires April 30. Michael Montesano, special counsel to the town attorney’s office, told the board that aside from the longer duration, the proposed ban mirrors the one already in place.

“We need to continue our review,” Montesano said, pointing to fire safety concerns as a central reason for the extension.

Those concerns are grounded in real incidents. Montesano cited the Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility fire in California in January 2025, which forced evacuations, caused extensive damage, and raised serious environmental alarms. He also referenced multiple storage facility fires in Warwick, in Rockland County. The state has made some updates to its fire code since the town first raised these issues, Montesano acknowledged, but officials say those changes don’t go far enough.

Donald Sinski, chief of the Glenwood Hook and Ladder, Engine and Hose Company, put the fire risk in stark personal terms. A veteran of the September 11 response, Sinski told the board that local firefighters simply do not have the tools or training to safely fight the kind of fires these facilities can produce.

“I worked 9/11, I survived that, and I don’t want to see that happen in my backyard,” he said.

Beyond fire safety, town officials and residents have raised concerns about clean water, evacuation zones, and broader health impacts on surrounding neighborhoods. The storage facility proposal at the heart of this debate is a previously planned 275-megawatt lithium battery facility by Jupiter Power Company in Glenwood Landing, which would have been situated near the Glen Head and Glenwood Landing elementary schools.

Residents at Wednesday’s hearing were largely unified in their support for the moratorium. Lori Golden of Glen Head praised the board’s stance and warned that allowing these projects to move forward would threaten the community’s water supply and way of life.

“We need you to extend the moratorium,” she said.

Rob Mazzella went further, urging the board to think beyond temporary bans and explore zoning changes that would permanently prevent storage facilities from being built within town limits. Chris Panzeca, a long-standing opponent of battery storage development in the area, called on Nassau County leadership to take a more aggressive position against what she described as misguided state energy policy.

“It’s time for Nassau County and its leaders to unite against the state’s misguided energy plans that aren’t green or clean,” she said.

The debate in Oyster Bay reflects a broader tension playing out across New York and the country. As of early 2026, more than 900 battery energy storage systems operate across the United States, with the largest concentrations in California and Texas. Suffolk County already has multiple facilities running, including the East Hampton Energy Storage Center and the Montauk Energy Storage Center, each with a 5-megawatt capacity, along with several more proposals in the pipeline. New York City has facilities as well.

Supporters of battery storage argue these systems are essential to meeting the state’s renewable energy goals. Critics say the technology carries risks that regulators and utilities have been slow to acknowledge.

In Oyster Bay, for now, the critics have the board’s ear. A vote on the 12-month moratorium extension has not yet been scheduled, but the message from Wednesday night’s hearing was consistent: residents want more time, more scrutiny, and stronger protections before anything gets built. Some want a permanent answer, not another temporary pause.

Whether the board moves toward zoning changes or continues with a series of moratoriums, the fight over battery energy storage in this corner of Nassau County is far from settled.