The Suffolk County Water Authority has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a 2023 lithium battery storage fire in East Hampton contaminated public drinking water wells, intensifying concerns over the hidden costs of New York’s green energy push.
The lawsuit claims a thermal runaway event at the East Hampton Energy Storage Center released contaminants, including the PFAS compound PFPrA, into firefighting runoff that migrated into groundwater serving the Authority’s Bridgehampton wellfield.
The facility is operated by the East Hampton Energy Storage Center, a joint venture of NextEra Energy Resources and National Grid. It began commercial operation in 2018 and provides energy storage services under contract to the Long Island Power Authority.
The case underscores a growing problem with wind and solar energy: both are intermittent and require large battery storage systems to supply power when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing. While promoted as clean energy infrastructure, lithium battery energy storage systems carry fire, explosion and contamination risks that nearby communities say they are being forced to accept.
In Hauppauge, Fire District Public Information Officer Louis Marcus warned Islip officials that the East Hampton case shows the dangers of a proposed lithium battery storage facility at 220 Rabro Drive.
“This is one of the many unacceptable hazards that the Hauppauge Fire District has been warning about,” Marcus wrote to Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter. He said groundwater is about 32 feet below the site and warned that contaminated runoff from a Battery Energy Storage System fire “would certainly leach into the water supply as well as the Nissequogue River.”
“A lithium BESS fire at the Rabro Drive property would be an absolute disaster for our community,” Marcus wrote, citing risks to residents, businesses and volunteer firefighters in both Islip and Smithtown.
The Water Authority lawsuit says two Bridgehampton wells were removed from service after PFPrA detections exceeded New York’s drinking water standard for unspecified organic contaminants. The Authority says treatment or replacement wells could cost millions of dollars.
The East Hampton facility was built to provide “peak smoothing” services for LIPA. It stores electricity when demand is low and discharges it back to the grid when needed to help balance the electrical system and reduce strain on power generation units.
Most Suffolk towns have either imposed moratoriums or tightened regulations on lithium battery storage in the wake of fires in New York and elsewhere.