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Town of Hamburg Planning Board Minutes September 2, 2026 technology is already playing an important role in making electricity in New York affordable and dependable. Chris Barton: Spoke in opposition to the project. She feels that batteries have their place, but not in a residential neighborhood. It is her understanding that RIC has never build a functioning BESS system in the United States, which leads her to have concerns about the Planning Boards motivation for consider a project like this from a company that has no proven track record. Joyce Culp: Spoke in opposition to the project. Her concerns: • There is no information regarding evacuation plans for residents as there are many people that live within a few hundred feet of the proposed site. • There is information that these fires can burn for days and may even regenerate several days after they are extinguished causing the surrounding areas to be unsafe. This would lead the residents to be misplaced for an unknown length of time. • Where would the residents be evacuated? • Who would cover the cost of the evacuation the families would endure? • Due to the lack of knowledge regarding health concerns, who would cover the cost of health damage, home damage or work loss caused by exposure to the chemicals released by high temperature burns? Colleen Kashino: Spoke in opposition to the project. When she was reviewing the project she was wondering why there is a distinction between Hamburg II East LLC and Hamburg II West LLC and after some research she found that they are shell companies for RIC Energies. When looking into the safety standards she found that if it were a single LLC, they would have the highest level of safety standards for the neighborhood in the country. However, because this is two different LLCs she found that they would have to follow the 2026 National Fire Protection Association Standards instead. Nila Penfold: Spoke in opposition to the project. • What are the specific benefits guaranteed for residents, like lower energy costs and improved grid reliability? • Will it be enhanced with solar power or wind power? • Will it provide backup power to our community or be sold back to National Grid? • Does our neighborhood have a need for stored energy? • Is there a formal plan for decommissioning this site? Karen Melisz: Spoke in opposition to the project with the following concerns: 5