Blooming Grove - Offered "Opportunity" for Carson Power Creation of an Electric Battery Storage Facility for the Area Grid

ejreporter
2 hours ago
4 min read

Warwick's experience of having a battery backup facility was a near disaster,

with several fires that continued to reignite, and emit hydrogen cyanide.

Officials determined that the certification was missing. The land has since

been condemned.

At last week's Blooming Grove April Workshop Meeting, a presentation began as a very pleasant and informative session about the potential status of an electric grid battery storage system at a "site" in Blooming Grove (Editor's Note: It was not divulged, but if ever constructed it would likely be at the new substation located on Round Hill Road....which happens to be adjacent to my farm. Frankly I am not a fan, but prefer it to hundreds of high density houses.)

The presentation, given by Sean Frusco of Carson Power Company (based in Philadelphia) was long and well done. But Blooming Grove Councilmembers are already well informed about both the benefits and dangers of this kind of facility, especially after explosions and repeat fire instances occurred at a Lithium Ion Warwick battery storage facility in 2025, and especially with the expertise and reservations of 2 longtime Blooming Grove Board firemen: Frank Malloy, who is a former New Windsor Fire Chief and John Byrnes who worked with the New York City Fire Department,

In fact, less than 3 months ago the Town Board instituted a 6-month Moratorium on battery storage systems.. However, to be fair, Supervisor Jeroloman and all Board Members included a promise to keep abreast of any improvements in the technologies used at battery storage facilities that might make them safer. As is usual, the Town Board listened respectfully, Supervisor Jeroloman jotting down some notes and looking up something on his cell phone for verification...to be divulged at the end of the meeting. Deputy Supervisor Cathy Acevedo was not as patient, shaking her head and commenting early that 'I don't want no battery boxes here!" Sean Frusco continued, enumerating the many protective safety measures that Carson Power includes in their storage system development process. When Councilman Byrnes asked what kind of testing they do on the storage boxes, Frusco couldn't resist a slight smile and said the testing is done by setting them on fire, and the boxes are self-contained,so the fire burns itself out. Contrary to this, online resources say that generally electric storage boxes that catch fire must be opened to ensure there is zero oxygen remaining that could reignite a fire. He did not really have a response, however, when Byrnes asked "What about compression and other kinds of stress tests?". Frusco simply said "That's an excellent question?", but diverted to the monitoring systems and certification program they require. But the final icing was not what the Board wanted to hear. Carson Power does not make the boxes, nor does it install them. Many large companies like that have had a poor record in recent years of what boils down to "Plausible Deniability", where each branch of a system finds it easy to claim it was another branch that caused the problem. In the end analysis sometimes it take years to hone down which branch was at fault In fairness, the record of such fires and explosions is relatively low, but only after THREE fires at the Warwick facility was the land condemned, and the storage facility business went out of business. Frusco said that Carson Power has a list of storage facility developers that they trust. But since it still carries a substantial risk to local life, Supervisor Rob Jeroloman was having none of it. Aftert pointing out the online news report about how dangerous the Warwick incident was, including the potential catastrophic impact of finding hydrogen cyanide in the air, Jeroloman waited for a response. Frusco said that the investigation after the incident had shown no adverse effects to nearby residents, and reiterated twice that because of the exploding needs for electric power, he recommended "moving forward with this sooner rather than later."

Blooming Grove Town Board

from Courier Files

This brought a moment rarely seen, of Supervisor Jeroloman, recalling his time as a Police Officer in NYC at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attack and raising his voice with obvious anger at the pressure and the suggestion that he was overreacting to the threat of hydrogen cyanide.

Supervisor Rob Jeroloman - "Don't threaten me! I was at Ground Zero. We were all told that the air was safe, and I still have to go and have my lungs checked every year!."

With this awareness, plus the fact that Carson Power neither makes nor installs the units, and the looming "plausible deniability" issue existing (if an accident did occur the blame could be devided between the original box unit developers, the electric grid, the monitoring systems, the individual workers, local oversight and other unknown dangerous risk factors,) it was clear that the entire Board was of a mind that "Not here, Not now!!."

It was not divulged which Blooming Grove property the plans for backup boxes would be located.... but logic says that proximity to the new Substation continuing expansion on Round Hill Road would be a first choice. The footprint is shown below, with 2 of the 4 adjacent farms with significant areas of wetlands as well as a marsh on the North side of Round Hill (which by the way is supposed to be a protected view already at some risk of impact, especially along the "Scenic Drive", view of Round Hill Mt.)

Image of the new Substation footprint after 3 1/2 years

(from Mapquest)

With all of the "upgrades" already being made to enable the Town of Blooming Grove to facilitate the Orange County electric grid... even beyond the danger of an explosion and potential spread of fire and hydrogen cyanide, imagine the impact of a major problem that could disable a critical part of this expansive new grid. It has taken over 4 years for Orange & Rockland to get this new substation and dozens of associated power towers, poles and lines near completion, but Governor Hochul keeps emphasizing the need for more! And this is why any new battery storage facilites are recommended to be placed far away from any residential area.