The Hurley Republican Committee voted Jan. 21 to formally oppose Terra-Gen’s proposed 250-megawatt lithium-ion Battery Energy Storage System at 430 Hurley Avenue, the former John A. Coleman Catholic High School site in the Town of Ulster. In a resolution released Wednesday, the committee said the project would place an industrial-scale energy facility next to dense residential neighborhoods along the Hurley-Kingston border and could put thousands of nearby residents within an evacuation zone in an emergency.
The committee’s statement focused on fire safety and the challenges of moving people quickly if something went wrong. “Placing an industrial-scale battery plant in the heart of a residential neighborhood is a fundamental threat to public safety,” said Stephen Bauer, identified in the release as a longtime professional firefighter and committee member. The resolution also raised concerns about “toxic smoke” from a potential battery fire, noise from cooling equipment, and the risk of contaminated runoff from firefighting efforts reaching groundwater and the Lower Esopus Creek.
The action adds to a broader debate that has been playing out across multiple local boards as the project advances through the Town of Ulster’s review process. The Hurley committee pointed to a recent Hurley Town Board moratorium on large-scale battery storage facilities as a sign of growing opposition, and urged town and state officials to prioritize public safety over outside development interests as the proposal moves forward.
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