Plainfield Board of Health Receives Legal Briefing on Battery Storage Project Authority

PLAINFIELD -- January 5, 2026, Plainfield Board of Health hears sweeping legal and technical briefing on proposed solar farm and battery storage project. Michael Hugo, director of strategy and government relations for the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, told the board at its January 5 meeting that under MGL Chapter 111 the board has authority to impose conditions on or deny both the proposed solar array and attached battery energy storage system, even if every other town board and the state approve the project, as long as it holds a proper public hearing and deliberates on the record. Hugo described BESS fire smoke as carrying hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen cyanide at concentrations described by a local firefighter as 5,000 times the legal exposure limit and warned that firefighting runoff from a lithium-ion battery fire could permanently contaminate private wells throughout a town where every household depends on well water. A resident living roughly 400 to 500 feet from the proposed battery site on North BC Street asked whether she would have time to evacuate her horses if a fire broke out; the firefighter's answer was that at that distance, on seeing the fire, she should leave and not return. Hugo noted that state BESS siting regulations are expected in March 2026 and said some developers are rushing to advance projects before those rules take effect.