Video and Rush Transcript: Congressman Dan Goldman Pushes for Greater Regulation of Lithium-Ion Batteries in Committee Hearing
Video of the First Line of Questions Available Here
Video of the Second Line of Questions Available Here
Washington, DC – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) today pushed for additional regulations for the lithium-ion batteries that e-bikes and other micromobility devices during a hearing of the Homeland Security Committee. Lithium-ion battery fires have become a grave concern in New York City. While in 2020 there were only 44 fires caused by poorly made lithium-ion batteries, there were 220 fires in 2022 and 268 fires in 2023. Following the deadly June 2023 Chinatown fire caused by lithium-ion batteries, Congressman Goldman pushed the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission to update e-bike safety regulations and cosponsored the ‘Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act.’
During the committee hearing, the Congressman asked Chief Fire Marshal Flynn how the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) works to enforce current laws against lithium-ion battery tampering, what resources are needed to help inspectors, and how greater regulations would help prevent the deadly fires caused by lithium-ion batteries.
VIDEO of the first line of questioning is available here
A rush transcript is available below:
CONGRESSMAN GOLDMAN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for convening this hearing. I thank you for the witnesses for being here. As a member from New York City this is obviously of great importance to me. Chief Flynn, I had the pleasure of meeting with you and Commissioner Kavanaugh a few weeks ago to discuss this issue, which I think you even noted in your opening testimony, has risen in such dramatic fashion where 150 people were injured last year, 18 were killed, 268 fires caused by lithium batteries, 1000% increase from just 2019. I wanted to discuss a little bit a concern that I have in terms of the pathway towards some of these problems which, you know, my district in last June faced four people died. I was a little surprised, and I don't want to put you on the spot. I'm a little surprised that none of the witnesses know where these lithium-ion batteries are manufactured because if we don't know where they are manufactured, how are the new mandatory regulations that the Consumer Safety Protection Bureau would be required to issue, if my colleague to the left of me, Congressman Torres's bill is passed?
DOCTOR MOORE-MERREL: So, if I may, sir, we do have an answer to that. The U.S. does get most of its lithium-ion batteries from China, South Korea and Japan. But there's a huge unregulated market within the U.S. that poses the challenge to regulators.
CONGRESSMAN GOLDMAN: Right. And that's where I wanted to go next, because something struck me in the meeting that we had, Chief Flynn, which is that a lot of the danger of these lithium-ion batteries comes from those who purchase them messing with them or rejiggering them mostly to allow them to go faster, which provides a whole ‘nother set of problems that we deal with in New York City. But it also increases the danger. Is that, is that right?
CHIEF FLYNN: Absolutely. By opening these up, it creates a tremendous danger. There's really no regulation or people to repair them. So, they're engaged in extremely dangerous practices. We've had several fatalities related to the repair or reconditioning of these devices throughout the city. The incident that you mentioned on Madison Street a few months ago, we believe that they were working on batteries at that location as well, which killed four people tragically in Manhattan. It's important to note in that incident as well, there was no fire that extended to the apartments of the people that were killed there. The smoke from these devices is so toxic that if it reaches your apartment, you're immediately overcome by this toxic gas.
CONGRESSMAN GOLDMAN: Right, and it's important to note that fire started at an e-bike store. So, it wasn't just a charge situation. So, this raises the next question which is: there's no question I'm a co-sponsor of Congressman Torres's bill, and it's essential that we get that passed. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will push their Speaker to put it on the floor so that we can get it passed. But I am worried that this black market that we're talking about, the unregulated market, is not going to be affected by this bill. And so, you know, I guess Chief Flynn or perhaps Chief Butler, because you guys are on the ground. What do we need to do or be thinking about to address this black unregulated market of turning up these batteries so they go faster, which causes more risk?
CHIEF FLYNN: Well, as I mentioned earlier, we do have an excellent inspection process within the city. So, any time we're alerted to any of these shops or makeshift commercial locations, which we've seen them pop up within housing communities–
CONGRESSMAN GOLDMAN: Do you think you have enough authority and resources to be able to tackle this issue?
CHIEF FLYNN: We could always use more resources, of course. Our inspectors are stretched very thin when it comes to inspecting locations that are engaged in these practices. But the reconditioning of batteries currently, within New York City is currently not legal. So, when we do observe these shops conducting those practices, we do close them down or issue violations.
CONGRESSMAN GOLDMAN: Well, I think you raise a very important point, which is that yes, we can regulate, but enforcement has to be a priority. I know it is for the fire department. And I know that you are working with a task force of other city agencies, but there needs to be enforcement not only of the regulations and law as it relates to these batteries, but there needs to be enforcement of our traffic laws to prevent people from using these e-bikes going 25 miles per hour or more, often wrong way on one-way roads, which causes a tremendous public safety risk. And so, I thank you for being here. Thank you for your indulgence, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
VIDEO of the second line of questioning is available here
A rush transcript is available below:
CONGRESSMAN GOLDMAN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wanted to pick up a little bit on where I left off, Dr. Kerber and ask you for your perspective on the kind of secondary downstream concerns that these e-bikes especially create. And we are hopeful, of course, of passing Congressman Torres's law, which would make the voluntary testing mandatory, which is a critical, vital first step. I think we're all in agreement about that. But again, I want to go back to this question of what to do if those are properly tested, but then are purchased and then either played with or changed or altered after that. What are your thoughts as to how we can regulate that, how we can enforce against that?
DOCTOR KERBER: Modifying lithium-ion battery products is incredibly dangerous. We need to be able to make sure that those are sealed systems and are not able to be tampered with. But humans are involved right? So, we know and have seen that they have been tampered with. There was actually a fire death in Virginia where someone had tampered with a device that they had purchased on the Internet and lost their life in that fire. Enforcement is incredibly difficult. I mean, the fire service is incredibly understaffed when it comes to things like enforcement. It's usually one of the first things to get caught within a community. So, we need to bolster those resources because it's not just a lithium-ion battery problem, it's a fire safety problem, period. Enforcement is one of our biggest challenges.
CONGRESSMAN GOLDMAN: And do you think that the mandatory regulations that would arise out of the passage of this bill could be done in a way to make it to require certification of lithium-ion batteries that are more difficult to tamper with than right now?
DOCTOR KERBER: Absolutely. I mean, you can write any requirements into the standard, and it goes through the consensus process. Everyone agrees with it. Absolutely. There's ways to reduce the chance of that happening.
CONGRESSMAN GOLDMAN: Alright, that's helpful to understand that on the front end that there is a way of reducing the possibility of tampering. Chief Flynn, you had mentioned in our meeting that the Fire Department of New York is part of a task force to address this issue. Can you explain a little bit more what that task force is and how you are working with other agencies to address this issue?
CHIEF FLYNN: Absolutely. We are working with many city agencies. We go out and spec together because a lot of these locations are engaged in other dangerous practices that we need to address. So, we employ the help of our Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to address certain issues such as our local law 39, which requires devices sold, rented, leased within the city to meet that certification. So, we have that in place already within the city. It went into effect in September of 2022. So, we've been out vigorously enforcing that law. So, we work with all agencies within the city. We go out. As you mentioned, the NYPD is entrusted with securing the roadways related to these devices. We employ their help as well. So, we do joint inspections with them.
CONGRESSMAN GOLDMAN: And when you say joint inspections, you're inspecting the stores that are selling these batteries?
CHIEF FLYNN: Yes. We are not capable of doing street level enforcement. And that law applies to the sale of the devices, not the possession of the devices. So, street enforcement mainly geared toward violations of the vehicle and traffic law would be conducted by the NYPD. We do go out with them to these locations, though, to inspect the devices that are being sold. And when they are found to not meet the requirements of the VTO, the NYPD then would take action there.
CONGRESSMAN GOLDMAN: And through this task force and your work with the other city agencies, have you come up with any other ideas for how to enforce not only the certification process and local law 37 that you referred to, but also, you know, on the back end to make sure that they are compliant with the certification process?
CHIEF FLYNN: We issue many summonses violations. We seized devices at the time of the inspection. We re-inspect after those summonses are adjudicated in court we go back and make sure that that that does not continue. Any time that a new store pops up, we make sure we get out there as soon as we become aware of it, to inspect that location. Again, we cannot inspect people's personal residences.
CONGRESSMAN GOLDMAN: Well, my time is up, and I would just like to say, in addition to, or in reference to the letter from DoorDash that you entered into the record. I do think there is a place for the delivery companies to have a role in making sure that Deliveristas, who are working for them and using these e-bikes, are compliant with the regulations and certifications and that we ought to in this committee and perhaps otherwise investigate how can we engage with some of these delivery companies to help ensure that these e-bikes are safe. And I yield back.
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