Illinois EV battery fire ignites proposed law regulating battery storage

[July 09, 2024]  By Catrina Petersen | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – An amended Senate bill awaiting action from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker about battery storage has some worried it could burden small businesses around the state.

The crux of Senate Bill 3481 that awaits the governor's signature requires companies that store certain battery types to register with the Environmental Protection Agency prior to February 2026 and maintain records related to the weight or volume of batteries stored.

State Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, said the amended bill requires that battery storage companies have to register as an auto-salvage company in order to store used batteries, like electric vehicle batteries.

“That unfortunately knocks out a lot of small businesses that would have engaged in this battery storage and that has cause some of us who might have voted for this bill previously to now just say, ‘it’s become a bad bill for small businesses,’ and for that reason I will be voting ‘no,’” said Bryant.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, explained that the bill’s origin came in response to a fire that occurred in state Sen. Sue Rezin’s district where a company was improperly storing electric vehicle batteries. Rezin, R-Morris, voted in support of the measure.

“Several years ago, there was a person who was illegally storing all kinds of EV batteries in a warehouse in town and no one knew that this was happening and the batteries caught on fire. There were over 400,000 pounds of illegally stored EV batteries that no one knew were there until the fire started,” said Rezin.

Rezin said Senate Bill 3481 was a good first start to addressing the disposal of EV batteries.

The House voted 77 in favor and 35 against and the Senate concurred with the controversial amendment on a vote of 44 in support and 15 opposed.

A June 29, 2021, lithium battery fire in Morris, Illinois, resulted in the evacuation of nearby residents - epa.gov

Feigenholtz explained why companies have to register as an automotive parts recycler.

“Right now, there are recyclers that are registered that are specialized in these kinds of operations that are typically better equipped to handle these volatile EV battery disassemblies. This language doesn’t require storage sites to expand operations that's typically already registered ‘vehicle recycling’ or ‘automotive,’” said Feigenholtz.

Rezin said this bill was the perfect example of why Illinois needs regulation in new areas.

“And when the fire started they had to evacuate half of the town for an entire week because of the danger from the fire. They didn’t know how to put the fire out. In fact my local fire department is the expert in the country on how to put these fires out because it’s never happened before," said Rezin. "The site afterwards was a tremendous cost for clean up for the municipalities and the U.S. EPA declared the site a superfund site and cleaned the area up in three months. So these issues are real and this is a perfect example of why we need legislation like this.”

Bryant pointed out the added requirements to register as a licensed automotive parts recycler was proposed by those in the auto salvage industry.

If signed, the law would ban a person from operating a battery storage site at which 5,000 kilograms or more of used batteries are stored at any one time unless the owner or operator of the battery storage site is a licensed automotive parts recycler and registers with the EPA.