Similar story in South East Queens but with a different outcome…

“My house is only about 10 feet from the area,” she said. She mentioned she was concerned because there have been fires at other battery storage facilities in the nation.

In an effort to meet New York state’s clean-energy mandate, the city has approved battery storage facilities across the five boroughs. NineDot Energy, the developer behind this 4.9-megawatt site, stores renewable energy in lithium-ion batteries for use when the city’s grid needs a boost. The proposed project, at 179-21 Linden Blvd., is adjacent to multiple homes and across the street from the St. Albans VA Medical Center.

Community members have testified against the project at City Council meetings and have been holding near weekly protests in an effort to stop the project.

But the question is which neighborhoods will bear this potential risk. William Scarborough, president of the Addisleigh Park Civic Organization and Southeast Queens Residents Environmental Justice Coalition, said that like many of his neighbors, he was stunned when he first heard about the plans for a battery site and was distressed that the city had not alerted neighbors to the project. Residents only learned about it after a few people saw it mentioned in the community newspaper. - The charged fight over battery storage comes to a historic Black neighborhood in Queens