Green-energy madness will turn NYC family homes into firetraps

You’ve got to be kidding me.A massive lithium-ion battery facility is being quietly pushed into the heart of Middle Village, Queens — right across the street from PS/IS 128, where hundreds of children go to school.And it doesn’t stop there: It’s also next door to an animal hospital, a day-care center and a children’s fun house.This is not a joke.It’s a fire hazard disguised as green infrastructure, as part of the City of Yes.And I’m here to say: Not in my neighborhood.

Not next door to our kids.Not without a fight.NineDot Energy, the company behind this plan, is eyeing a residential lot smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood — a place where kids ride bikes, families walk their dogs and teachers relax on their lunch break.It’s the last place a dangerous industrial-battery facility should ever be allowed.These lithium-ion battery systems, necessary to comply with the impossible clean-energy goals of Albany’s 2019 Climate Act, are a disaster waiting to happen.Look no further than Moss Landing, Calif.— where a giant battery facility caught fire this year and burned for five days, releasing toxic smoke and forcing over 1,000 residents to evacuate.A month later, it caught fire again.In 2023 alone, lithium-ion battery fires in New York City killed 18 people and injured 150.And those were from smaller batteries — imagine what a 40-foot container full of high-capacity battery racks could do in the middle of a neighborhood if it explodes.Now imagine that happening across the street from a school with thousands of kids inside.This project is being allowed as-of-right — meaning no public hearing, no environmental review, no input from the community — as part of the City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality, a citywide zoning amendment that I strongly opposed and voted against.And Middle Village isn’t alone: Similar giant battery sites and proposals are popping up in residential areas all over the outer boroughs — Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Isl...