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 from PS/IS 128, where hundreds of children go to school. It’s also next door to an animal hospital, a daycare center, and a children’s fun house.

This isn’t green infrastructure — it’s a fire hazard in disguise. And I’m here to say: not in my neighborhood, and certainly not next to our kids.

The company behind this dangerous plan, NineDot Energy, wants to site a high-capacity battery system in the middle of a quiet residential neighborhood — the last place something like this belongs. These lithium-ion battery systems, touted as part of Albany’s 2019 Climate Act, are ticking time bombs.

Just look at Moss Landing, California, where a large battery facility caught fire this year and burned for five days. It released toxic smoke and forced over 1,000 residents to evacuate. A month later, it ignited again.

Right here in New York City, lithium-ion battery fires killed 18 people and injured 150 in 2023 alone. These were caused by small devices like e-bikes and scooters — not 40-foot industrial containers. And the danger is very real and very local: just this May, a lithium-ion battery fire broke out at a junkyard on Metropolitan Avenue, further proof that these fires are becoming more frequent and more dangerous.
Now imagine that kind of explosion across the street from a school filled with kids. That’s what we’re facing.

Even worse, this project is being allowed as-of-right — meaning no public hearing, no environmental review, and no community input. It’s part of the “City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality,” a sweeping zoning amendment I strongly opposed and voted against.

Middle Village isn’t the only neighborhood under threat. Similar battery storage proposals are appearing across the outer boroughs — in Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the Bronx. And it’s no coincidence that these facilities are being pushed into working-class communities with limited political influence.

We need accountability and we need to slam the brakes on these reckless placements.

Let me be clear: I’m not opposed to clean energy. I fully support renewables, responsible climate policy, and practical solutions to our environmental challenges. But that doesn’t mean we hand over our neighborhoods to developers and hope nobody gets hurt.

We can build a sustainable city without turning schools into blast zones and homes into firetraps.
I’m calling for an immediate moratorium on all large-scale lithium-ion battery facilities in residential areas. That moratorium must stay in place until we have strong fire-safety protocols, proper siting guidelines, environmental reviews, and, most importantly, community input.
Middle Village is not a testing ground. Our families will not be sacrificed for someone else’s profit.
We’ve worked too hard to keep our community safe. I’m not going to let it go up in flames.

What happens when we place hazardous infrastructure next to homes and schools?

This is the result of reckless legislation passed without due diligence. City Hall slapped a green label on it and rushed it through without asking: What happens when we place hazardous infrastructure next to homes and schools?

Moss Landing knows. And we’re about to find out the hard way if we don’t act now.

Let’s be honest — this isn’t about climate. It’s about money. Developers and special interests who stand to profit helped write the rules. And too many of my colleagues in the City Council either played along or looked the other way.

That’s why I’ve joined a lawsuit with the Common Sense Caucus to strike down the entire City of Yes zoning overhaul. We’re also preparing a separate legal challenge targeting the carbon-neutrality provision that enabled this battery facility in the first place.