Dear City Council Members,
We see that the Petaluma City Council by a vote of 7-0 has come out in opposition to Measure J, thereby taking a stand on a county-wide proposal that you all feel would have a deleterious effect on agriculture in our area. Similarly, our citizens group, Citizens for Battery Transparency, requested that you support our demand of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors that an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) be performed on the two battery energy storage systems (BESS) proposed for sites close to our neighborhoods and in proximity to the historic Vallejo Adobe and to Adobe Creek.
That seemed like a reasonable request given that, in addition to our safety, Petaluma city services and water sources will be directly affected. We assumed that public protection and stewarding city resources is an important obligation of our city council. Surprisingly and sadly, we got that wrong. And, in the end, so did all of you, because the county planning department decided that an EIR was exactly what these projects required. There’s no other way to put it but you lost our trust. That said, you will have the opportunity to fulfill your responsibilities when it’s time to comment during development stages of the EIR — specifically, scoping and public comment periods.
We continue to provide you with information on the dangers and impact BESS facilities represent. Utility scale lithium-ion BESS fires have been reported in New York, Arizona, California, South Korea, China, France and Australia. The latest BESS fire occurred in San Diego just this past May. This is the third BESS fire in San Diego County in the last year. The Otay Mesa BESS facility caught fire on May 15, 2024 and kept re-igniting for days. Local news sources reported, "evacuation orders and warnings are in effect in the immediate vicinity of the facility.” Here are several news links about the Otay Mesa fire:
Reigniting San Diego BESS Fire Highlights Thermal Runaway Risks (batterytechonline.com)
The fire at Otay Mesa required over 40 firefighters and took more than two weeks to extinguish. The fire has been attributed to “thermal runaway,” a phenomenon that leads to a chain reaction when lithium-ion batteries generate heat faster than it can be dissipated. As firefighters worked to keep the conflagration under control, officials were at a loss to predict when the batteries would stop reigniting.
Communities and neighborhoods like ours up and down the state are deeply concerned about the placement of these powerful energy facilities where people, structures, and habitat are vulnerable. The Vacaville City Council has voted 6 to 0 against a BESS facility on city owned land. The Solano County Board of Supervisors recently voted unanimously to impose a moratorium on BESS facilities. Fairfield, Morro Bay, Novato, Acton, Escondido, and Bel Marin Keys, among others, have citizen movements opposing the endangerment of their residents by these huge energy storage facilities. Why?
Because the state of California has yet to enact safe siting standards. Until the responsible agencies do, we are left to our own devices to discover and disseminate the facts regarding the dangers these things represent. We rely on our elected representatives— all of you — to take our safety concerns seriously. You should have forwarded a letter to the County Board of Supervisors requesting that EIRs be performed out of concern for our safety and the potential impact on city services and our environment. To us, that seemed like a low bar, and we remain puzzled why you didn’t support our very reasonable demand to the county. Opposing Measure J is much more of a political stand, and you didn’t hesitate to take that stand.
The simplest way to protect public health and safety is to site these facilities away from population centers and sensitive ecological and cultural areas. If you want an example of a possible alternative site within the county, look at the PG&E substation just west of Hwy. 101 at the River Road offramp near Santa Rosa. There are lots of agricultural fields and vineyards west of the substation where a BESS could be sited that wouldn’t endanger whole neighborhoods, schools, Kaiser, businesses and offices. Better yet, they should be co-located and integrated with renewable energy facilities such as solar arrays and/or wind turbines. This would then make a BESS facility a truly renewable resource. Finally, BESS projects can be sited on federal land. Here are two examples where integrated BESS and solar facilities have been sited and are now operational on federal land in California:
https://www.blm.gov/press-release/blm-advances-battery-storage-renewable-energy-california-desert
How much work would it take for the county to perform a county-wide search for alternate sites for these facilities? Nobody is arguing that battery energy storage isn’t important in our transition to sustainable energy, but we take exception to anyone arguing that we residents of Petaluma should solely bear the burden of the risks to our lives, our health, our properties, and our environment. It is unacceptable and we expect our city council to get deeply involved in this matter instead of ducking the issue or paying it little heed.
Sincerely,
David Donnenfield
Joe Petrillo
Citizens for Battery Transparency
David Donnenfield
2125 Falcon Ridge Dr.
Petaluma, CA 94954
415-640-3012
“We need a planet where human life and natural life is the default. We do not jeopardize other living species' ability to be on the planet.
— Ken Holmen, International Director, Norwegian Polar Institute