Tewksbury Board of Health Demands Answers as 125-Megawatt Battery Storage Project Advances

TEWKSBURY -- November 20, 2025, Tewksbury's Board of Health grilled town officials and a battery energy developer for hours over a proposed 125-megawatt lithium-ion energy storage facility planned for Hillman Street, less than 50 feet from the nearest home. Town Manager John Caron and Fire Chief Joe Kearns told the board the state Energy Facilities Siting Board, not local government, controls permitting under Chapter 40A, and said the town is using a host community agreement to impose safety conditions if the project is approved. East Point Energy's Maggie Howe and Tyler Klein confirmed the project will follow NFPA 855's 2026 edition and acknowledged that burn test data, an emissions report, a hazard mitigation analysis, and a draft emergency response plan have not yet been filed but will appear on the EFSB public docket within weeks. Board Chair Melissa Baraga announced the board is filing a late petition to intervene before the EFSB without legal counsel. More than a dozen residents, including a retired Reading firefighter and 20-year hazmat technician, warned that lithium-ion fires cannot be extinguished with water and that the site's single access road makes evacuation of the adjacent Emerald Court development and nearby assisted-living facility a critical unresolved risk.