Quick Take
A group of South County residents concerned with a proposal for a 200-megawatt battery storage facility on an apple orchard just outside of Watsonville held a community meeting Monday evening. Residents expressed their disapproval of the project and say they want more transparency from county officials.
South County residents found themselves scoffing and shaking their heads in disapproval this week as they listened to community organizers Nina and Greg Audino present details about lithium batteries and the latest on a proposed battery storage project in their neighborhood.
The Audinos formed the grassroots group Stop Lithium B.E.S.S. in Santa Cruz County shortly after learning about a massive fire at Vistra Corp.’s Moss Landing battery storage facility earlier this year, aiming to advocate for transparency and safety and to make sure the community has a voice in the decision-making process for a proposed 200-megawatt battery facility just outside of Watsonville.
On Monday night, the couple held a meeting at Amesti Elementary School — less than a mile away from the facility’s proposed site on Minto Road — to share what they know about the project, the dangers of lithium batteries and to plan next steps in their fight to stop the project.
“We need your help to stop these fairly dangerous battery energy storage facilities of the type that are proposed from being installed in our neighborhood,” Nina Audino said to the group of nearly 60 residents in the elementary school’s cafeteria. “There’s a small but mighty group working on this right now, and we need our group to grow so that we can keep pressure on our [county] supervisors.”
The push against the proposed $200 million battery facility being proposed by Massachusetts-based New Leaf Energy sprung up in the aftermath of the large fire at a Moss Landing facility in January. Most residents were unaware of the South County proposal until after the fire broke out, said Audino.
At each table in the elementary school cafeteria, organizers had placed pre-written letters meant for the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors expressing that battery storage facilities using lithium in any way would be “too dangerous” and demanding county officials adopt a moratorium on lithium battery storage systems.
The group of residents is also asking supervisors to establish a task force — composed of residents, first responders and experts in battery storage technology — to advise county planning staff on creating a battery storage facility ordinance.
County officials are working to draft an ordinance to regulate battery storage facilities in Santa Cruz County. Originally scheduled to be discussed by the board of supervisors in April, it has now been pushed back until the fall, said county spokesperson Jason Hoppin. County staff are waiting for more information from investigations into the Moss Landing blaze, additional testing from researchers and any state legislation that could be passed regarding battery storage facilities that may inform the ordinance.
New Leaf’s application to develop the project is still in its early stages, according to Tiffany Martinez, spokesperson for the county’s planning department. There is no definite timeline for when it might come up for approval by the county, nor has the company started an environmental study, she said.
New Leaf energy storage developer Max Christian told Lookout in March that the company’s battery designs will mitigate all the known risks that caused the fire in Moss Landing. The proposed site will use LFP batteries, which are made of lithium, iron and phosphate. These batteries are supposed to be safer and less likely to catch on fire, according to Christian. Battery safety experts have said that newer designs for battery storage containers make it far more difficult for a fire to spread quickly, as it did at Vistra’s Moss Landing site, which featured an older design.
The Audinos are skeptical. During their nearly two-hour presentation, the couple said they don’t believe these types of batteries are safe enough, citing fires in the Germany and China that were caused by facilities with LFP batteries, along with instances of lithium-ion fires spreading beyond just one container in Australia and in England.
“We know that there is no method of suppressing a lithium battery fire once it’s inflamed. We know that the larger the lithium battery installation, the higher the chances of fire,” Nina Audino said.
LuAnn Martin lives right beside the Pacific Gas & Electric substation adjacent to the proposed site. Like many other residents who attended Monday’s meeting, Martin said she felt blindsided by the county’s lack of communication about the project and demanded more transparency from public officials.
“We have been told our cautionary tale when you look at what happened at Moss Landing, and that we need to really listen now to avoid what happened there,” she said.
She recalled being very surprised about hearing of New Leaf’s plans to build a battery storage facility in her neighborhood. She found out only after the January fire in Moss Landing. “This company never notified me as a resident, nor did the county ever notify us as residents that they were talking about doing such a huge project,” she said.
Near the end of the Audinos’ presentation, Martin loudly said, “Not in my backyard,” which received nods in agreement and another attendee chiming in, “Not in South County, go up north.”
Martin said she’s concerned about the possibility of fires at the battery storage facility. She believes there would be no way for firefighters to stop a blaze from burning at the facility because of potential exposure to toxic chemicals, she said.
She added that the lack of information available to residents had made it seem county officials and New Leaf Energy are rushing through the process to get the battery storage facility approved, which she believes is never a good idea, especially when lives are at risk.
“I cannot imagine a single resident who would say yes to this,” Martin said. “Not one single person, if given the information that I received tonight, would ever say yes to this. These lithium batteries need to be taken off the market. They need to go somewhere else.”
The Audinos plan to hold another community meeting in the summer.
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FOR THE RECORD: This story was updated to clarify that The Audinos cited LFP battery fires in Germany and China, while those in Australia and England involved lithium-ion batteries.
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