Oakham Select Board Prepares Legal Strategy as Battery Storage Filing Looms

OAKHAM — March 31, 2025 — Oakham Select Board braces for imminent battery storage filing with state energy regulators. The board, meeting Monday, agreed to immediately engage town counsel after a resident reported the developer planned to file with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities on April 1, triggering a formal siting process that includes mandatory public hearings; the proposed 180-megawatt facility sits approximately 0.4 miles from the elementary school and abuts watershed land. Claire Hinger of 170 Lincoln Road reported that Quabbin Regional School District agreement negotiations had stalled after DESE returned a draft with extensive comments, but that a regional committee vote had unanimously rejected a proposed three-year rolling-average assessment formula that she said would have cost New Braintree $41,000 more and Hardwick $78,000 more over two years while saving Hubbardston $179,000. The board deferred a vote on building permit fee increases — some as large as 25 percent above a schedule unchanged since 2014 — pending a fuller explanation from the building inspector, and unanimously approved wiring inspection fee increases effective April 1 and a premium MIIA vision plan for town employees at 100 percent employee cost.