[0:00] e

[0:37] good evening good evening good evening

[0:39] um thank you all for being here this

[0:50] evening it is September 4th 2024 and

[0:53] this is the city council work session um

[0:57] we're going to begin the session by um

[0:59] the a call to order which I just did

[1:02] Pledge of Allegiance if you all stand

[1:03] with me

[1:05] please I pledge allegiance to the flag

[1:09] of the United States of America and to

[1:12] the Republic for which it stands one

[1:15] nation under God indivisible with

[1:18] liberty and justice for

[1:23] all okay

[1:32] okay before we begin um because this is

[1:35] a council meeting and there is priority

[1:38] business that does need to be taken care

[1:39] of I am requesting of the council that

[1:43] we're able to move under new business

[1:45] business items two and three the grant

[1:47] acceptance and the Professional Services

[1:49] agreement to the top before we do um

[1:53] introduction of our special guest and

[1:54] presentation are there any

[1:57] objections all right so Mr

[2:01] Pollock thank you mayor I'll be brief so

[2:04] the first item is we we have the we got

[2:07] the opportunity to add

[2:09] $150,000 to the Cascade Trail phase 2A

[2:14] uh project this is a project being

[2:16] designed inhouse by David Lee who's

[2:18] retiring tomorrow and so this will give

[2:21] us the capability to finish this project

[2:23] and potentially construct it next year

[2:26] um it's

[2:27] $129,000 of grant funding with2 ,000 of

[2:31] match okay are there any questions for

[2:34] bail is there a motion Madame mayor I'll

[2:37] make a motion to approve thank you do I

[2:40] have a second I'll second that thank you

[2:43] so I have a motion by councilman lavaka

[2:44] second by councilman Burns to accept the

[2:48] grant um for the sro2 Cascade Trail West

[2:52] extension Phase 2 a all those in favor

[2:55] signify by saying I I oppose same sign

[3:01] motion carries thank you moving on to

[3:03] the second item uh Mr bulock I believe

[3:06] this has to do with the professional

[3:08] service agreement amendment number two

[3:10] yes and so

[3:11] currently and I have to make a

[3:13] correction on this to the actual uh uh

[3:17] Amendment to the contract I said kjl

[3:20] instead of klj so I'll make that change

[3:23] with your permission but uh currently uh

[3:26] kjl is our uh utility rate uh consultant

[3:31] and we want to start uh an amendment to

[3:35] uh start sorry begin our utility rate

[3:38] study for the sewer rates and we have an

[3:40] obligation to get a draft by October and

[3:45] so by uh establishing this amendment

[3:48] today uh we have an opportunity to be

[3:50] able to do that without a delay okay any

[3:53] questions for

[3:55] Bill do I have a motion Madam mayor I do

[3:59] so Bill I was just wondering so we're

[4:01] getting a consultant to to discuss the

[4:03] sewer rate um increase for which years

[4:07] for basically 2025 okay and we just did

[4:11] rate increase didn't we I believe so but

[4:15] from what I understand is we do a rate

[4:17] study uh uh every year and so this is

[4:21] our consultant that does that for us so

[4:23] I'm moving that forward okay so is that

[4:25] a is that a policy or is it just

[4:27] something we do or um

[4:30] because we're paying 18 just to do a

[4:32] rate study and then to raise a rate and

[4:34] I don't I'm just wondering is we ever

[4:36] had it were um the rate study said don't

[4:39] raise the rate lower

[4:42] it so I really can't answer that

[4:45] question because I just don't have the

[4:46] history here that'd be something for

[4:47] Mark fryberger who's retired um but this

[4:51] is an expectation that I was told we

[4:53] have and so this is what we're doing and

[4:56] this same consultant is doing one for

[4:58] storm water but as I said consultant

[5:00] with our stormm water comprehensive Plan

[5:02] update that's currently underway so

[5:05] maybe Charlie do you know if this is a

[5:07] mandatory thing that we that we do every

[5:09] year we do do it every year we do it but

[5:12] are we are we required to adopting rates

[5:14] and fees is required by Council each

[5:16] year uh doing a rate study is not

[5:19] necessarily required by Council each

[5:20] year but it's prudent fiscal management

[5:22] of the utility the Wastewater utility to

[5:24] make sure that we have funds we need to

[5:26] do capital projects and maintain our

[5:28] operations so I recommend we do it so

[5:31] that would be to verify that we're

[5:32] covering the costs of them to keep them

[5:34] solvent not necessarily that we're just

[5:36] raising rates to stay in line with other

[5:38] cities we're doing what it's necessary

[5:40] to to pay the bills that's correct we

[5:43] also have our Wastewater Plant expansion

[5:45] coming up in the next few years and I

[5:46] think it's critically important at this

[5:47] point in particular to make sure that we

[5:49] have put away the funding for that that

[5:51] we

[5:52] need thank you is there a

[5:56] motion if if I may make one more

[5:58] question Madam May if else absolutely so

[6:00] on that rate study um if we do it every

[6:02] year is there a is there a trend that we

[6:06] see that increase

[6:08] in like if it goes up like 2.2 one year

[6:11] 2.4 one year 2.3 the year we see it's

[6:15] roughly at this does it make fiscal

[6:17] sense to spend the 18,000 if we know

[6:19] it's going to be within that trend line

[6:21] is it going to be dramatically different

[6:22] I

[6:24] guess that I can't so I can say in uh

[6:28] past jurisdictions I've been it's

[6:30] typical to even do a rate study once

[6:31] every three years some do it every year

[6:33] it kind of depends on the jurisdiction

[6:35] and what they their practices are um if

[6:39] you're doing something less often than

[6:41] once a year then typically what you're

[6:43] doing is you're you know adding a a CPI

[6:46] factor or you've you have a planned rate

[6:49] increase for every year and so that is a

[6:51] way to um do a rate study less

[6:56] periodically but then typically if

[6:57] you're doing a rate study every three

[6:59] years it's more expensive than if you do

[7:00] it every year because you know they uh

[7:05] when you do a rate study every year my

[7:07] priority is you you carry over the data

[7:10] from the last time you did it into um

[7:13] the current year you're doing it and and

[7:15] there's a certain amount of analysis

[7:16] that doesn't need to be redone as if

[7:18] you're doing it less frequently so uh

[7:20] from what I understand that's what this

[7:22] jurisdiction typically does and so

[7:24] that's what we're proposing to do now

[7:27] with that said that's a practice we

[7:28] could look at changing in the future

[7:29] certainly certainly we

[7:31] can so are you saying it's going to cost

[7:33] us the same amount whether we do it

[7:34] every three years or every year we're

[7:36] going to end up no I'm saying if you do

[7:37] once every three years or once every

[7:38] five whatever your frequency is that's

[7:40] going to typically be more than if you

[7:42] do it every year because you now have a

[7:44] different level of analysis to do

[7:46] because you have not maintained that

[7:48] analysis year after year so 18K per year

[7:51] plus inflation basically no matter what

[7:53] we do it's not atypical how's that but

[7:56] it wouldn't cost 60,000 for a three-year

[7:58] study or or 56,000 for a threeyear

[8:03] study hard to really tell you what that

[8:07] is it all depends on who's doing

[8:11] it um how how the utilities run you know

[8:15] what types of things they need to

[8:16] investigate if you have large Capital

[8:18] Improvements coming up in the

[8:20] next um fiscal term or not and and in

[8:25] this case we do or we're likely to so

[8:29] could we look at that and then you could

[8:31] come back and we can table this until we

[8:35] have those numbers well I tbling it now

[8:38] means we probably would not have one

[8:40] done in time for the time period that

[8:43] council is or at least what I've been

[8:45] told my expectation is we certainly

[8:47] could and then if that's okay if we

[8:49] bring back the results in November or

[8:52] December but then we won't have the

[8:53] ability to for instance incorporate that

[8:55] into our budget this year either

[9:00] councilman ly yeah I just wanted to know

[9:03] is this the same company that's been

[9:04] doing this for years for CED willly any

[9:07] I mean it's been a long time so they

[9:09] know the ins and outs that's

[9:11] correct that's my understanding anyway

[9:14] thank

[9:15] you Mayor Johnson yes go ahead um i' I'd

[9:19] personally like to see a data Trend o

[9:21] over like the past 10 years adding

[9:24] inflation um what's that what's that

[9:27] done to kind of get a grasp of what we

[9:29] would be paying uh I agree with Nick

[9:31] that if it's like 2 and a half% every

[9:34] year and that's what we know it is and

[9:35] that's been well

[9:36] established um backing the inflation out

[9:40] of it um i' I'd like to see those

[9:42] numbers and then and then either pull

[9:44] the trigger on it or not if

[9:47] that's if that's something we can get

[9:49] rather quickly that'd be

[9:52] helpful sure I can try

[9:56] it I'm sorry one one other thing to note

[10:00] is we do have uh upcoming in in the next

[10:03] couple years uh upgrades to the

[10:05] wastewater treatment plan and that is

[10:08] actually the bigger piece of the rate

[10:11] study as Bill mentioned um to make sure

[10:15] that we are saving appropriately for

[10:19] that and best using um our fiscal

[10:22] resources to make that as low cost as

[10:25] possible because debt uh costs the city

[10:28] money so we're trying to reduce our debt

[10:31] and and be really smart about that um

[10:34] and this is what the consultant helps us

[10:36] do not just the rate next year but how

[10:39] will that rate help us in the really

[10:43] near future when we're going to have to

[10:45] start start working on that project um

[10:49] and funding for that project so my

[10:52] recommendation is um along along with

[10:56] Bill and Charlie's uh is to have this

[10:59] cons and come in this year especially

[11:02] given we're going to have a lot of

[11:04] capital projects in the ne next couple

[11:06] years and it's crucial

[11:08] we have the correct rate

[11:11] now go ahead I'll respond to that Kelly

[11:16] um so klj or is it kjl I you mix me up a

[11:22] little bit whichever one it is

[11:25] um KJ klj So within this same study

[11:30] would we be and if we're looking for a

[11:32] data Trend we can get that pretty

[11:33] quickly but most certainly that can be

[11:36] if I would expect that to be part of the

[11:37] study be if we can also have them do a a

[11:41] uh an impact study on development to go

[11:45] along with that like as Kelly said we're

[11:46] getting ready to rebuild our sewer plant

[11:50] um it shouldn't all come out of the

[11:51] current rate payers some of it should

[11:54] some of the development should pay for

[11:55] our expansion sure and I would expect

[11:58] part of the rate study would also be a

[12:01] potential recommendation for what the

[12:04] GFC we call it GFC or GFF but as new

[12:08] development come in comes in they have

[12:09] kind of a buy into the system called the

[12:12] general facility charge and I would

[12:14] assume that could have a recommended

[12:16] increase potentially as well so new

[12:19] development is paying more of their fair

[12:20] share for that that's good point if we

[12:23] had answers on that I'd feel comfortable

[12:25] voting on it next

[12:26] week or next week we have me right in

[12:30] two in two weeks and when when's this

[12:32] answer due

[12:34] by well part of the obligation was to

[12:36] have a preliminary report available for

[12:40] the October 9th Public Works committee

[12:42] meeting and that's what I'm targeting

[12:43] but we could certainly um you'll have a

[12:47] report in late October or November we

[12:50] just wouldn't be able to put it through

[12:51] the committee first well it's a first

[12:53] first read too um so I think you know

[12:56] waiting for a second read or if we want

[12:58] a motion a table it that works too but I

[13:01] would take a second read I work at the

[13:03] pleasure of the council

[13:06] so so am I understanding correctly that

[13:09] if you don't do the rate study now then

[13:11] you won't know what to budget for in

[13:14] next year's budget in time or I won't

[13:16] necessarily say that I would say uh that

[13:19] will influence what we um propose for an

[13:23] event the budget for this year going

[13:25] into that that's part of what that is

[13:30] I would say that the uh analysis done by

[13:34] the consultant is extremely extremely

[13:37] thorough and not something that um I I

[13:40] have the myself have the capacity or the

[13:43] anyone in the finance department has the

[13:46] capacity to complete there's a lot of

[13:50] there's a lot of considerations um in

[13:53] that so we can of course provide a trend

[13:56] of what our rate has been um but it

[13:59] doesn't necessarily indicate what our

[14:02] future 2025 rate needs to

[14:06] be

[14:09] um so ju just putting out putting out

[14:12] that information that we don't currently

[14:15] have the capacity within the city to

[14:18] complete this thorough analysis ourself

[14:22] we do uh do rate studies ourselves for

[14:27] solid waste for solid waste which has a

[14:29] little bit although they you know

[14:31] there's has its own complexity it's not

[14:33] quite as complex

[14:36] as you know um it's not quite as complex

[14:40] as a sewer utility or storm water

[14:44] utility I think we're just looking for

[14:46] the two weeks and get the data and it

[14:50] would be hard pressed to um maybe we

[14:52] should have got this before us sooner if

[14:54] we were that crunched on time I don't

[14:56] know but two weeks doesn't sound like a

[14:59] large amount of time to to ask and see

[15:01] the trends and see the data and I mean I

[15:04] know that it were coming up on a capital

[15:06] project but a lot of that Capital

[15:07] project I thought was already in plans

[15:09] and being funded according to my

[15:11] discussions with Mark fryberger that we

[15:13] had that in motion so you know we're

[15:17] we're I think last year they also

[15:19] included that we would be needing a

[15:21] capital Improvement project so it's the

[15:23] same information every year that's what

[15:25] I'm saying um I would be in favor of

[15:28] just waiting for two weeks and then

[15:29] getting that data before us or finding

[15:32] away wouldn't it be next week I'll make

[15:33] a make a motion for next week if it's

[15:35] one week on the 11th I will second okay

[15:39] we have a motion to delay um this um

[15:44] um let me look the professional service

[15:47] agreement until September 11th is there

[15:50] any more

[15:52] discussion Madam mayor Ju Just to note

[15:55] that that is challenging for staff

[15:57] because today is Wednesday

[15:59] and we put out the packet by the end of

[16:01] the day Friday probably will be

[16:04] September 24th meeting and that that is

[16:07] a pretty challenging timeline but don't

[16:11] they already include Trend data in their

[16:13] analysis report so can't you just pull

[16:15] up last year's report and pull the trend

[16:17] data out from their report or look at

[16:19] the last and just say hey this last five

[16:22] years we've increase the rate this much

[16:24] based on that consultant it doesn't have

[16:25] to be super thorough I'll take a look

[16:29] thank you Bill appreciate that I mean if

[16:31] I can get it get something out for

[16:33] September 11th meeting I will if not we

[16:35] can wait till the 2 you know the 24th is

[16:37] the next council meeting after that

[16:39] because I want to get you the right

[16:40] information I don't want to get you okay

[16:44] but so that we're not ex um uh setting

[16:46] high expectations there is that

[16:48] possibility that when it comes time to

[16:50] vote upon the budget we may not have the

[16:51] correct data and right well I would say

[16:56] that um you know it it it will be a less

[17:00] confident and

[17:02] accurate U recommendation which is fine

[17:05] we can do that too um but certainly then

[17:09] we um you know may have to

[17:13] have um we may have to make that up the

[17:17] following year to a certain extent if if

[17:19] we adopt a rate study that's U lower

[17:23] than we than the analysis recommends

[17:26] that's all it is okay

[17:30] okay so if there's no more discussion or

[17:32] questions we do have a motion on the

[17:33] table by lav councilman lavaka seconded

[17:36] by councilman handerson to delay um this

[17:40] current agreement all those in favor

[17:42] signify by saying I I oppos same

[17:45] sign okay so I want to State for the

[17:48] record I see where councilman Paul cooch

[17:49] has come online and so um all council

[17:52] members are here in chamber tonight

[17:56] present in the meeting okay

[17:59] um thank you

[18:01] for uh working through that next we have

[18:05] a um presentation uh but regarding the

[18:08] golden eye battery energy storage system

[18:11] project

[18:12] presentation um I want to thank our

[18:14] guests for coming in here tonight I know

[18:16] that some of you traveled a great

[18:17] distance to be here at our request so

[18:20] that you could do a presentation for the

[18:22] council um as part of the decorum I am

[18:26] requesting that there is respect and um

[18:30] professionalism shown by the audience um

[18:33] they are our guests they are here to

[18:36] present to the council and so with that

[18:38] I will introduce them um the first

[18:43] is Nicole DS and Nicole DS is community

[18:47] relations she's a manager community

[18:50] relations Tommy Nelson is the lead

[18:53] project

[18:54] developer vasu panipati is the vice

[18:57] president inine engineering and

[19:01] construction retired captain and

[19:03] assistant Fire Marshall Mike Nichols is

[19:05] the energy storage specialist and fire

[19:08] consultant Hiller

[19:10] companies and Brad Cole is the senior

[19:13] project

[19:14] manager so um with that we will turn

[19:17] this over to you I don't know who's

[19:19] starting will that be you all right

[19:20] thank you Nicole absolutely good evening

[19:23] everyone um Mayor Johnson council

[19:26] members uh thank you for allowing us to

[19:29] be here um my name is Nicole DS um I am

[19:33] manager of community relations at tanasa

[19:36] um the company that is developing the

[19:39] golden eye energy storage project um

[19:41] tanasa is a NE Omaha Nebraska based

[19:44] company uh with over 35 years of

[19:47] experience in the energy space and a

[19:51] long history of um developing

[19:54] constructing and safely operating um

[19:58] facilities all over the country so thank

[20:02] you first we want to uh thank you for

[20:04] inviting us here uh this evening to be

[20:06] able to share an overview of the project

[20:08] with you um and answer any of your

[20:11] questions um we also want to thank those

[20:13] of you that are in the audience um that

[20:16] may be had been in attendance at the uh

[20:19] recent fsec hearing um those of you that

[20:22] were able to share your thoughts um at

[20:25] both at the hearing and on our project

[20:27] website as well as um to FC um this

[20:33] proposed project is um in its very early

[20:36] stages uh for a um an extensive

[20:39] permitting process um but we welcome um

[20:43] the engagement involvement um of

[20:45] everyone um at each step um so today um

[20:50] with me I have uh subject matter experts

[20:54] in development um in

[20:56] engineering uh in environmental and

[20:59] safety um and again my role is in

[21:03] community engagement so I welcome um any

[21:07] one of you um that would like to to

[21:10] discuss um your concerns directly um but

[21:14] I think right now I'll turn it over to

[21:16] Tommy Nelson who is our lead project

[21:18] developer uh to dive into the project

[21:21] but uh again thank you for your time

[21:23] this evening

[21:28] thanks Nicole uh next slide

[21:33] please so and thanks again to the city

[21:36] council and to Mayor Johnson for

[21:38] inviting us to present and uh to the

[21:40] members of public here in attendance um

[21:43] want to start our presentation here by

[21:45] sharing some information about the

[21:47] process that leads to a project like

[21:49] this even being

[21:50] introduced uh it begins with local

[21:53] utilities identifying energy needs uh in

[21:56] the case of Washington the plans call

[21:59] for an addition of significant battery

[22:02] energy storage capacity uh the cedra

[22:04] Wooly substation was identified as one

[22:07] of the ideal locations for a best

[22:09] project utilities then issue requests

[22:12] for proposals to meet those needs and

[22:15] developers respond with projects that

[22:18] serve the public interest and those

[22:19] projects enter pering

[22:22] review We are one of many developers

[22:24] offering to leverage our expertise and

[22:26] experience to support these priorities

[22:29] uh next slide

[22:34] please why are the utilities looking to

[22:37] add best to the grid well uh the

[22:38] underlying reasons for this are well

[22:41] known to some of you but uh for others

[22:43] in short the reason is Washington's

[22:45] power grid is strained and the potential

[22:47] for energy shortages which can lead to

[22:50] blackouts and brown outs uh during

[22:52] periods of peak demand are on the

[22:54] horizon additionally the trans

[22:57] transition to clean energy leaves the

[22:59] grid dependent on intermittent resources

[23:02] such as wind and solar that do not

[23:04] produce when the sun isn't shining or

[23:06] when the wind is not blowing energy

[23:09] storage is a viable and critical way to

[23:12] keep the lights on for homes businesses

[23:14] and

[23:15] infrastructure and it's why best

[23:17] facilities are being considered in every

[23:19] corner of the Pacific Northwest not just

[23:21] scet

[23:23] County next slide

[23:26] please these are a few of the uh

[23:29] headlines and media clips that uh have

[23:32] come out recently uh public attention on

[23:34] these issues has has definitely

[23:36] increased local and Regional media

[23:39] Outlets have begun exploring the impact

[23:40] of the grid and energy challenges and

[23:43] the need for Solutions next slide

[23:48] please now we can uh go into the next

[23:52] slide

[23:53] please uh now we talk about how the best

[23:57] projects themselves work

[23:58] in a very simple way uh what they're

[24:00] doing is storing energy that is

[24:02] generated during periods of peak

[24:04] production so that power can be

[24:06] delivered during periods of peak demand

[24:08] or when there is a shortage of energy

[24:10] being

[24:11] produced uh next

[24:14] slide and this uh is just a you know

[24:18] Source from PGE But A visual

[24:21] representation that kind of help

[24:22] understand what is is effectively

[24:24] happening here there's intermittent

[24:27] resources when solar Etc and batteries

[24:30] kind of fit in that middle range between

[24:33] the generation and the end

[24:35] user um go ahead to the next slide

[24:39] please so a little bit about the history

[24:42] of Bess uh lithium ion technology first

[24:44] came around in the

[24:47] 1980s uh commercialized in the early 90s

[24:50] really didn't uh emerge at the utility

[24:53] scale level until the early

[24:56] 2000s um it's important to not

[24:58] there's a big difference between the

[25:00] utility scale best projects such as the

[25:02] golden eye project and other lithium ion

[25:05] uses such as cell phones e scooters

[25:08] electric vehicle

[25:10] batteries and utility scale best

[25:12] projects have been intensely researched

[25:15] by National Laboratories including

[25:17] Pacific Northwest National Lab pnnl here

[25:19] in Eastern Washington uh and today these

[25:22] projects are being proposed in every

[25:24] corner of the state next slide please

[25:33] an important aspect of how these

[25:35] projects get cited and where they're

[25:36] located

[25:38] uh where they are is um to understand

[25:42] what criteria are considered when we're

[25:44] citing one of these

[25:45] projects first and foremost they must be

[25:48] placed in close proximity to utility

[25:50] substations this means best projects are

[25:53] built in areas with a history coexisting

[25:55] with existing with electric

[25:59] infrastructure uh pictured here is the

[26:01] cedra Wooly substation from an aerial

[26:03] view uh approximately 14 acre industrial

[26:06] facility less than half a mile from the

[26:09] proposed site for Golden ey like the

[26:11] proposed golden eye project the facility

[26:13] is heavily regulated to ensure

[26:15] environmental safety and Community

[26:17] compliance next slide

[26:22] please one of the first questions in

[26:24] response to any proposed project is

[26:26] safety and this is the top priority to

[26:28] NASA in the development of battery

[26:30] energy storage systems we work with top

[26:34] experts in the field and coordinate

[26:36] closely with local first responder

[26:37] agencies in every step of the process a

[26:40] small number of incidents have been well

[26:42] publicized but are extremely rare and

[26:44] the industry has learned how to best

[26:45] prevent them from happening and respond

[26:47] them to them effectively when they do

[26:50] and that's one of the reasons we have

[26:52] our uh technical experts here this

[26:54] evening for you guys to ask

[26:56] questions uh next slide

[27:02] please the golden ey project

[27:04] specifically will utilize the safest and

[27:06] most Advanced Technologies available

[27:08] which will meet or exceed all applicable

[27:10] codes and standards independent experts

[27:13] and local fire authorities are consulted

[27:15] at every Stage Standard here standards

[27:18] here in Washington have been updated and

[27:20] new best projects being built are

[27:22] subject to significantly more stringent

[27:24] requirements than they were at the

[27:25] outset next slide

[27:33] okay you can go ahead to the next

[27:37] one the proposed location of the project

[27:40] is shown here in this picture just uh

[27:43] north east of the substation and as we

[27:46] discussed previously the golden eye

[27:48] project is proposed to be located next

[27:50] to an existing industrial footprint the

[27:52] Cedro wooly

[27:53] substation um we will collaborate with

[27:56] local stakeholders on any m measures and

[27:59] just as with the substation the facility

[28:01] will coexist with the surrounding

[28:03] environment the site is zoned for uh to

[28:07] allow major utility developments as a

[28:10] special use which uh this project has

[28:12] been designated by scet

[28:15] County next slide

[28:22] please uh there were a number of

[28:24] concerns that were raised at the FC

[28:25] hearing that I would like to kind of

[28:27] address um ultimately what I'm about to

[28:30] share with you will have to be validated

[28:32] by the scientific processes that FC

[28:34] employs uh the facility will not be

[28:37] allowed to move forward if it doesn't

[28:39] comply uh first that the project has a

[28:42] low elevation profile it will be

[28:44] consistent with the current view shed uh

[28:46] second the project will not release any

[28:48] emissions or radiation from the

[28:51] batteries uh leakage cannot occur

[28:53] because there is no free liquid inside

[28:55] the batteries again it's important to

[28:57] understand the difference between

[28:58] utility scale best and other lithium ion

[29:01] uses as well as battery chemistries that

[29:03] are not

[29:05] comparable the facility will comply with

[29:07] local noise ordinances as does the

[29:09] substation next door specifically they

[29:12] will comply with scet county code

[29:14] chapter

[29:15] 9.50 uh in addition to the Washington

[29:18] Administrative

[29:20] Code while this project is in a 100-year

[29:22] flood plane all the project components

[29:24] will be raised above the uh those levels

[29:28] and as part of the construction and

[29:30] approval of this there will be

[29:31] enhancements to the stream buffers and

[29:34] we are prepared to make whatever

[29:35] Investments are required of us in that

[29:38] regard uh next slide

[29:43] please uh

[29:46] so during the uh you know process of

[29:49] entitling this project and working

[29:51] through the FC approval process um one

[29:54] of the things that will happen is uh we

[29:56] will develop as part of the the building

[29:58] permit process and emergency response

[30:01] plan uh that will kind of outline all of

[30:05] the rigorous safety protocols that will

[30:07] apply to the specific battery chemistry

[30:09] and manufacturer that gets selected for

[30:11] this project uh but what we have done

[30:15] all along is engaged with Fire District

[30:17] 8 with the scet County fire marshall uh

[30:19] We've included the scet county

[30:21] department of urgency Emergency

[30:23] Management we've uh brought in fire

[30:25] protection Engineers to make sure that

[30:27] we're having you know the experts that

[30:29] are helping to craft these codes

[30:32] speaking to the first responding

[30:34] agencies um we also want to mention that

[30:38] you know when this project gets

[30:39] commissioned it will have a manufacturer

[30:42] Le safety training uh that includes all

[30:45] of the First Responders and then

[30:47] additionally uh by anually throughout

[30:50] the life of the project there will be a

[30:51] repeated uh version of that training and

[30:55] that's as the code gets updated we're

[30:57] capturing updates to the NFPA and that's

[31:01] uh you know capturing turnover and first

[31:03] responder agencies too so that uh newer

[31:07] folks are are getting the training for

[31:08] those

[31:09] facilities uh next slide

[31:14] please these uh facilities do come with

[31:17] a host of monitoring and security uh

[31:20] features and it's important to know that

[31:22] these will be monitored 247 by several

[31:24] different agencies uh first and foremost

[31:27] the

[31:28] uh the best manufacturer the actual

[31:31] manufacturer of the technology and

[31:34] whoever the owner and operator of the

[31:36] system ends up being uh and then the

[31:39] we'll have a third party uh safety

[31:41] monitor such as Hiller companies or some

[31:44] other uh company such as that and then

[31:47] Additionally the oftaking utility will

[31:49] also be monitoring this 247 so there's

[31:52] at least four separate entities that are

[31:53] going to be monitoring this facility

[31:56] 24/7 during for the entire uh operation

[32:00] lifetime there will be regularly

[32:02] scheduled on-site maintenance uh in

[32:05] addition to it being remotely monitored

[32:07] and we will have you know cameras on

[32:09] site to monitor it remotely for um any

[32:13] uh need there uh next slide

[32:19] please the project is designed to last

[32:22] for between uh 20 and 30 years and there

[32:25] will be ongoing maintenance requirements

[32:28] at the site um but it's not an an

[32:31] everyday thing uh there will be uh

[32:36] augmentation of batteries somewhere

[32:38] along the way where old units get

[32:40] swapped out for newer

[32:42] units um and then as part of the

[32:46] approval with fsec we're required to

[32:47] submit a decommissioning plan for the

[32:50] eventual removal of the project if it's

[32:52] not uh re-energized at at the end of its

[32:56] permit or or uh Project Life Cycle and

[33:00] uh that governs the decommissioning of

[33:03] the project and recycling of the uh any

[33:06] applicable materials on the project like

[33:08] the

[33:09] batteries uh next slide

[33:15] please and here are a couple of um

[33:19] visual representations of the project

[33:21] that are included in our fsec

[33:23] application that I'm sure uh many of you

[33:25] have seen uh the top shows the existing

[33:29] conditions along minkler Road along the

[33:31] north side of the

[33:33] project

[33:35] uh where the overhead um transmission

[33:39] lines are and the bottom shows proposed

[33:44] conditions with uh you know vegetative

[33:47] buffering and uh a block

[33:53] wall next slide please

[34:00] these are a couple more views from the

[34:03] opposite direction on minkler

[34:05] road next slide

[34:11] please so as I mentioned before uh you

[34:14] you don't have to take our word for it

[34:15] that the project will integrate with the

[34:17] local community and uh you'll have FC to

[34:20] fall back on um it's the responsibility

[34:23] of the of an independent state agency to

[34:25] determine whether the project can be

[34:27] built if it's approved for construction

[34:29] the project will then be overseen by the

[34:31] utilities and Transportation Commission

[34:33] and fsec will be responsible for

[34:35] ensuring that it remains in compliance

[34:37] with all of its project conditions of

[34:40] approval next next slide

[34:44] please and finally uh if project does

[34:47] move forward uh it will deliver benefits

[34:49] to the local community in for in forms

[34:51] of jobs uh tax revenue and local energy

[34:55] reliability

[34:57] uh you know this project represents

[35:02] a I was gonna say thank you a

[35:05] substantial investment in the community

[35:06] and will be responsible for uh

[35:09] approximately 75

[35:11] jobs uh next slide

[35:17] please and finally uh I wanted to thank

[35:20] all of you for giving us an opportunity

[35:22] to present um happy to take the

[35:25] council's questions and we'll definitely

[35:28] be listening for comments uh you know in

[35:31] the upcoming weeks and as a reminder

[35:33] these are the ways that people can get

[35:35] us information or questions and uh the

[35:37] project will do its best to

[35:41] respond all right thank you thank you um

[35:44] and I'd also like to I know we we kind

[35:46] of got the introduction earlier but this

[35:48] is vasu pinapati uh vice president of

[35:50] engineering construction and Mike

[35:52] Nicholas from Hiller companies they're

[35:53] also here to answer any technical

[35:56] questions or more from the uh fire

[35:58] safety standpoint all right thank you

[36:01] I'm going to open up questions to the

[36:02] council go ahead councilman Burns thank

[36:05] you madam mayor so would I be correct in

[36:07] assuming a fire would be the worst case

[36:09] scenario at one of these

[36:11] facilities I I think that's relative but

[36:14] that would certainly be bad okay and you

[36:17] said that it doesn't leak but I'm

[36:18] curious uh once there's a fire is there

[36:22] the potential for that to then get into

[36:24] the groundwater at that point if they're

[36:26] spraying it off with fire hose rain you

[36:29] know what is the potential uh ground

[36:31] penetration because we have that uh

[36:33] Creek Hansen Creek right next to it so

[36:35] that is a big concern for me sure um

[36:38] it's a good question it's been asked uh

[36:41] and I would say that the uh you know

[36:45] General consensus with the First

[36:47] Responders now is that water is not used

[36:50] as a method of putting uh of of putting

[36:54] one of the units out U I'll let

[36:58] Mike elaborate

[37:01] any thank you mayor and Council uh the

[37:05] culture within the fire department is

[37:06] changing as a result of the technology

[37:08] that's emerging uh Kern County was the

[37:11] kind of Ground Zero for these projects I

[37:13] was the assistant Fire Marshal there I

[37:15] was in charge of Permitting witness

[37:17] testing and uh overall oversight of the

[37:21] entire project which is now the largest

[37:23] battery energy storage project in the

[37:25] world at 3.2 gwatt hours and I was was

[37:27] mentioning to Chief earlier that that

[37:28] was like trying to swallow an elephant

[37:30] hole I had no basis or understanding of

[37:33] what this technology was much less the

[37:35] impact on the firefighting culture we're

[37:38] used to engaging directly trying to

[37:40] extinguish a fire anytime that there's a

[37:42] hazard we're proactive in taking an

[37:44] approach we look at these fires more

[37:47] from a perspective of isolate and deny

[37:50] entry observe and contain because

[37:53] extinguishment or attempts to actually

[37:54] extinguish the fire can create secondary

[37:58] concerns like you mentioned if we put a

[38:00] lot of water on there you know you have

[38:03] water now that's going to be as a

[38:05] byproduct of that particular incident

[38:07] and it's unnecessary because these fires

[38:09] are really and enclosures are designed

[38:11] to consume themselves completely and the

[38:13] less we engage them directly and

[38:16] interfere with that process uh when we

[38:19] do apply water we elongate the incident

[38:23] and I know a lot of incidents of

[38:24] reference that are happening right now

[38:25] are from OT Mesa down in San Diego we've

[38:28] got uh Moss Landing in montere chandeler

[38:32] Arizona but these were all incidents

[38:35] that took place with indoor

[38:38] installations where the ability and the

[38:40] luxury of disengaging wasn't an option

[38:43] you had secondary exposures which were

[38:45] the building themselves that needed to

[38:48] be addressed so that they didn't become

[38:49] part of the incident in an outdoor

[38:51] installation which is the ideal the

[38:54] enclosure can be managed and monitored

[38:56] it can consume it itself it's going to

[38:58] be out much quicker if we don't apply

[39:00] water or extinguishing agents to delay

[39:02] the inevitable which is the full

[39:03] consumption and basically the

[39:07] uh it's the ideal sort of environment uh

[39:11] in a fire to let it consume itself

[39:14] entirely so that we don't have a longer

[39:18] term you know Incident That's committing

[39:20] resources that's committing secondary

[39:23] resources like water so this is a change

[39:25] in culture for the fire department and

[39:27] one of my jobs is to be traveling the

[39:29] country teaching fire departments and

[39:31] and offering that level of training to

[39:34] help change the mindset so that we're

[39:36] looking at not an incident that's ATA

[39:38] last 10 days and you're committing

[39:40] hundreds of firefighters to the incident

[39:42] because it was a generation of batteries

[39:45] that Tommy mentioned

[39:47] wasn't held to the same standards so we

[39:50] have learned a lot over the years when

[39:52] this first started it was 2019 in my

[39:54] jurisdiction we're now 5 years later

[39:57] half a decade and so what we're seeing

[39:59] is that these Technologies uh the codes

[40:01] that are regulating them have evolved

[40:03] from the lessons learned and so these

[40:06] enclosures are now the biggest

[40:08] consideration in NFP 855 which I just

[40:11] sat in the committee meeting in Atlanta

[40:12] last week is that these enclosures are

[40:15] designed to not propagate between one

[40:17] another so you're not going to show up

[40:19] to an entire battery storage yard with a

[40:21] fire you're going to be facing at worst

[40:24] case a single enclosure that's on fire

[40:27] and the best thing that can happen in

[40:28] that instance is to isolate deny entry

[40:31] observe and contain the

[40:34] incident May if I might follow up on

[40:37] that um so you said it would totally

[40:39] consume itself so what's left I mean it

[40:42] rains a lot here what's left is there

[40:45] going to be something that's going to

[40:46] end up in that uh that Waterway uh you

[40:50] know is it going to be a metal container

[40:52] that's left is it going to be uh a

[40:54] different chemical compound what's going

[40:56] to be left behind after for that process

[40:58] of the fire and then uh the other

[41:02] followup I had was uh if you're going to

[41:04] let that burn the chemicals that are

[41:08] released from it um how toxic is that

[41:11] what kind of a range uh is that going to

[41:13] travel as far as safety or we going to

[41:15] have to evacuate a certain area right

[41:18] and so we've seen in the incidents of

[41:20] reference that when the fire is allowed

[41:22] to actually burn at its normal rate the

[41:24] toxics are consumed in the fire and the

[41:26] rate horizontal spread is minimal by

[41:29] comparison the the rate of travel of the

[41:31] most

[41:33] uh how shall I say so carbon monoxide

[41:36] travels horizontally the most and that

[41:38] still is not very far from the enclosure

[41:41] so when we show up as First Responders

[41:42] we're using our for gas meters and

[41:44] that's going to be what establishes the

[41:45] edge of that exclusion zone for us and

[41:49] that isn't traveling more than you

[41:53] know it's not traveling far enough away

[41:56] to impact the community

[41:58] so when we're looking at

[42:01] this yeah it's kind of a vague answer I

[42:04] I get that it changes

[42:07] but

[42:11] what one of the

[42:14] so uh thank you I need all of you to not

[42:18] speak until public Comon if that's when

[42:20] you want to speak um right now these are

[42:23] our guests to our city your guests our

[42:26] guests so I am asking that we show

[42:30] respect one of the things I would just

[42:33] say to your question too is those are

[42:36] all questions that get answered when the

[42:39] emergency response plans get developed

[42:41] for these projects as kind of the next

[42:44] step in their uh you know as they get

[42:47] closer to

[42:50] construction go ahead yeah I'll just add

[42:53] that

[42:55] uh prior to issuing the building permits

[42:58] for construction we will provide uh uh

[43:02] emergency response plan hazardous

[43:04] mitigation analysis which is what I

[43:06] think you're referring to and also a

[43:08] plume analysis we will demonstrate that

[43:11] in the event of a thermal runaway SL

[43:14] battery fire you know how the toxic

[43:17] gases and how far they travel what are

[43:19] those toxic gases levels we will conduct

[43:22] a plume analysis in the neighborhood of

[43:25] the facility and provide it as as part

[43:27] of the uh emergency response plan prior

[43:30] to issuing the building construction so

[43:32] the fire department will have an

[43:34] opportunity to review those documents

[43:36] before issuing the building

[43:40] permits go ahead counc Henderson all

[43:42] right thank you um just to follow up on

[43:46] uh what Joe brought up under your

[43:48] proposed fire protection plan section 5A

[43:52] subsection 3 adequate water supply is

[43:54] critical to the fire protection system

[43:58] so there's a fire protection system that

[44:00] puts out water in in your guys's

[44:02] proposed plan so um how much water uh it

[44:09] it goes on to State volume duration

[44:11] pressure and flow so how much water is

[44:13] that and has it this even been confirmed

[44:16] with our local public utility district

[44:18] that we can that we can provide

[44:22] that as part of our initial Outreach

[44:25] with scet County they identified that

[44:28] the

[44:30] um the water needs weren't going to be

[44:32] able to be met by the city water line

[44:34] that runs along minkler road so the

[44:36] project was asked to upgrade the water

[44:38] line from uh you know a little way back

[44:42] up to the the project it's approximately

[44:45] 2600 feet of water line and then after

[44:48] the construction of the project it would

[44:50] be dedicated over to the Public

[44:52] Utilities

[44:53] District okay um thank you and um could

[44:58] you could you address the part about the

[45:00] the adequate water supply is critical to

[45:03] fire protection system because we just

[45:05] listened to you tell us that you just

[45:07] let these things burn out but there's a

[45:09] fire protection system I so when we're

[45:11] looking at fir water especially in

[45:13] current County one of the things that

[45:14] we're looking at is not for

[45:16] extinguishment and suppression but for

[45:18] exposure protection so you can cool

[45:20] ajacent enclosures if the heat is

[45:23] beginning to negatively impact the

[45:24] adjacent enclosure so it is for

[45:28] protection and not for

[45:30] extinguishment so mad

[45:32] Maya so is this considered a combustible

[45:36] metal the lithium in there how hot is

[45:40] the rate of

[45:41] burn if it does did catch

[45:44] fire depending on the depending on the

[45:46] hazard mitigation analysis the

[45:47] technology that's used has different

[45:49] compositions that's actually going to be

[45:52] a determining Factor on the heat flux

[45:54] which is going to be what heat is put on

[45:57] off by an incident at worst case so it

[45:59] isn't necessarily the metal in the

[46:02] battery because at the cell level on a

[46:04] UL 9548 test which is a requirement for

[46:07] underwriter laboratory there aren't

[46:09] toxics that are put out and this goes

[46:11] back to the other councilman's question

[46:13] about the toxic composition what we're

[46:15] seeing out of studies out of New York

[46:16] from other incidents and from uh other

[46:19] testing Labs is that the composition of

[46:21] the smoke is very similar to what you're

[46:23] seeing in house fires because of the

[46:26] presence of upholstery carpets Foams and

[46:30] Plastics so when you start looking at

[46:32] some of the byproducts of combustion

[46:33] that are coming off in a battery fire

[46:36] it's not the cell itself it's also the

[46:38] enclosure the the module the Plastics

[46:41] around the module so we're seeing

[46:43] similar uh toxic compositions in regular

[46:47] combustible house fires I'm thinking

[46:48] more of the the heat generated so if you

[46:51] have a combustible metal then let's say

[46:53] titanium right you don't want to pour

[46:55] fire on it or water on it because the

[46:57] water will go back to its base chemicals

[46:59] of hydrogen and oxygen and is that what

[47:02] we're looking at with this lithan if

[47:05] they were to catch fire would they reach

[47:06] 3,300 Dees would they reach 3500 Dees

[47:09] where water would then be a concern of

[47:11] explosion you have put on to it no this

[47:14] is not going to be the same thing as

[47:16] your magnesium fires where the water

[47:18] actually explodes like you're mentioning

[47:21] so this is a different chemical

[47:23] composition and the and the percent of

[47:25] lithium in these batteries is very

[47:28] minimal by

[47:29] comparison so not putting water on the

[47:32] fire to douse it out and just letting it

[47:34] burn through it's going to burn out even

[47:35] with water on it it's just going to

[47:37] continue to burn the water is only going

[47:38] to just slow the process it slows it

[47:41] down and it cools it to where some of

[47:42] the toxics are not burnt off

[47:46] completely I have a question one more

[47:49] follow if that's right so psse uh they

[47:52] did come here uh in April and earlier in

[47:54] the year as well and they insisted that

[47:56] we had plenty of energy for our grid we

[47:58] were showing them phone text that we

[48:00] were getting that that they were asking

[48:02] us to conserve our heat you know because

[48:05] wintertime um but then we turned around

[48:07] and got rid of natural gas so is this

[48:10] like a response to the supposed to

[48:14] supplement the natural gas is that what

[48:15] the idea of putting these battery plants

[48:17] around and and I know you guys probably

[48:19] don't get in the politics of the natural

[48:21] gas band but um to to supplement the

[48:24] energy we're losing from our homes with

[48:26] natural gas and relying more on

[48:30] electricity these projects like these

[48:33] are a required uh part of the energy

[48:36] transition to intermittent resources

[48:38] like wind and solar and

[48:41] hydro

[48:44] okay I had a question councilman diamond

[48:48] oh councilman go ahead yes uh I had

[48:51] two questions the first was um I drove

[48:55] around that facility recently um and

[48:59] there are quite a number of homes near

[49:01] it and if you go do West there's the

[49:05] city of cedral wooy and in the C I've

[49:09] read about some of these fires and some

[49:11] of across the country and some of them

[49:14] involve um evacuation especially if

[49:17] you're just going to let the fires burn

[49:20] um that's my first question the second

[49:22] is that the proximity of H Hansen Creek

[49:27] uh you know that's a salmon stream or

[49:29] it's it's involved with salmon and

[49:32] restoration uh if you're letting the

[49:34] fire just burn won't those uh fumes also

[49:38] affect the qu water quality and of that

[49:41] nearby stream thank you thank you

[49:47] Paul I'll uh can you restate the first

[49:51] question again well the first question

[49:54] he was talking talking about the concern

[49:55] of housing can the the first thing

[49:58] talked about the need for possible

[50:01] evacuation of all the houses near there

[50:04] and I I can ask a third question sorry

[50:06] you shouldn't have asked me this to

[50:08] restate it evacuation around there and

[50:11] um how quickly that would happen because

[50:14] as I read this you're not going to have

[50:17] Personnel on site it's remote monitoring

[50:20] well that's great but how quickly do you

[50:23] respond and if you need to do evacuation

[50:26] how quickly could do that the second

[50:28] part had to do with the water quality of

[50:31] Hansen Creek if there was an

[50:34] incident so I'll let uh Mike and Basu

[50:39] answer the the first question other than

[50:42] just to reiterate that again that would

[50:44] be those would be details that we would

[50:47] uh include as part of our emergency

[50:50] response plan uh and

[50:53] generally there's uh a move towards

[50:56] shelter in places but again that depends

[50:59] on the specific technology so once that

[51:03] decision has been made whatever the the

[51:05] brand more or less of batteries it's

[51:07] going to be then several of those uh

[51:11] kind of cascading uh questions after

[51:13] that will fall into place we'll

[51:15] understand what we can include in the

[51:17] Hazardous Materials analysis we'll

[51:19] understand specifically what we can put

[51:20] in the emergency response plan and I

[51:23] don't know Mike anything you want to add

[51:25] sure so a lot of what we're seen with

[51:26] the fire department trainings is a

[51:28] default by fire departments that didn't

[51:30] have a specific training that are

[51:32] defaulting to the Emergency Response

[51:33] Guide which is a national reference for

[51:37] evacuation shelter in place based on

[51:39] Hazard unfortunately that natur or that

[51:41] National Emergency Response Guide does

[51:43] not have lithium batteries as a specific

[51:46] hazard of reference and so a lot of

[51:48] jurisdictions are defaulting to this

[51:50] shelter in place or an evacuation over a

[51:53] distance that they come up with the

[51:55] closest approximate Hazard and what

[51:57] we're trying to inform and educate the

[52:00] fire industry as a whole is that these

[52:03] are different than what we see listed in

[52:05] the National Emergency Response guides

[52:08] and there is a big push within NFP 855

[52:11] right now a whole toxic work group that

[52:12] I'm involved with that are looking at

[52:14] incidents of reference that did soil

[52:16] samples air sample and water samples

[52:18] post incident both in New York in uh

[52:22] Indiana and in various places where some

[52:24] of these incidents of reference have

[52:26] taken place which are showing no toxics

[52:29] in the water that was run off and none

[52:32] in the soil post incident versus

[52:34] pre-incident and we're starting to see

[52:36] that these really require a special

[52:39] identification with the Emergency

[52:40] Response Guide that has its own category

[52:42] for reference in discussion with Chief

[52:44] Joel Mendoza from uh North County where

[52:47] Moss Landing took place where an

[52:48] evacuation happened and a shelter in

[52:50] place happened and a freeway closed he

[52:53] admitted was because of visibility

[52:55] visibility not from smoke specifically

[52:57] but also from fog so when you have some

[53:00] of these jurisdictions of reference that

[53:02] had these early incidents that other

[53:04] fire departments are referencing there's

[53:06] a misconception about the need for

[53:07] shelter in place and for evacuations

[53:09] based on the hazard that's specific and

[53:13] again these were very early excuse me

[53:16] generation Technologies which have

[53:18] changed dramatically over the last half

[53:20] a decade because of these incidents of

[53:21] reference and Lessons Learned so you're

[53:23] going to see these changes reflected in

[53:25] the National Emergency Response guide

[53:27] and in NFP 855 for guidance and

[53:29] Direction on First

[53:32] Response okay and what about the fact

[53:34] that it is uh uh remotely controlled and

[53:38] how how would that affect the response

[53:40] to an

[53:42] emergency so these systems are monitored

[53:45] offsite by an NFPA 72 compliant UL

[53:48] listed Central Station the Central

[53:50] Station then is in communication with

[53:51] the emergency dispatch so if you get an

[53:54] alarm smoke detector gas detector heat

[53:57] detector that initiates the response

[53:59] from the fire department to come out so

[54:02] there should be no delay in the

[54:05] response Council uh thank you and then

[54:09] is anybody gonna talk about Hansen Creek

[54:11] I think there's a lot of yeah I have I

[54:13] have lots of questions but sorry I was

[54:15] going to just spin off that real quickly

[54:17] District 8 relies uh heavily on

[54:19] volunteers and Cedar Wily holds the

[54:22] contract to partner with District 8 in

[54:24] emergency response has discussion been

[54:27] had with the city of Cedar woly and how

[54:29] they're going how they fire intends to

[54:32] respond to all of this and if there is

[54:34] an emergency who is funding this and how

[54:37] is Cedar woly then going to fund the

[54:39] backfill that's needed to supply and

[54:40] take care of our own citizens in our

[54:43] city so again all of those details will

[54:47] be kind of finalized in our emergency

[54:49] response plan but what

[54:55] I but what I can say is that uh

[55:00] the First Responders would include scet

[55:03] County and Fire District 8 who both of

[55:06] whom we've met with and had uh long

[55:09] ongoing conversations with and and uh so

[55:13] we in tend to include their input into

[55:16] the development of that plan and when it

[55:18] finally you know gets approved that it

[55:20] will have included their

[55:23] input so all none so so the project

[55:27] itself can be pushed through and then

[55:29] all of that becomes an afterthought so

[55:31] to speak it's it's put together after

[55:34] the project is approved and the design

[55:36] goes into place is that correct in my

[55:38] understanding no the well not not that

[55:42] it's incorrect it's just that we're in

[55:43] the kind of uh entitlement phase of the

[55:47] project and once we get into the um you

[55:51] know construction permit or ministerial

[55:53] permit design phase that's when you know

[55:56] things like the battery chemistry

[55:58] selection get made and that's when the

[56:00] final plant design gets uh you know

[56:03] designed and and again the emergency

[56:07] response plan details come available

[56:09] with uh you know the technology

[56:11] selection okay so nothing on this

[56:13] project has moved forward in regards to

[56:15] the property or anything else at this

[56:17] point no okay I mean other than our you

[56:20] know environmental uh studies and and

[56:23] surveys and and those sorts of things

[56:25] but no

[56:27] no construction or anything like that

[56:30] well we're a long way from from that but

[56:32] that's planned for as you know early as

[56:36] 2027 councilman

[56:40] Henderson so coming your mic your mic oh

[56:43] whoops so coming off of the um off of

[56:47] the fire discussion I'd like to change

[56:48] the topic a little bit and um go on to

[56:52] what uh your actual business model is

[56:54] how will you get a return

[56:56] on investment for your project how will

[56:59] the rate payers be

[57:01] impacted and who will you be selling

[57:03] energy

[57:05] to so um I'm G to unfortunately

[57:09] disappoint you in the response here

[57:11] because the uh exact commercial nature

[57:15] of the project is yet to be determined

[57:17] so we're not sure yet how the um

[57:22] contract is going to govern the buying

[57:24] and selling of power from it but

[57:26] eventually it will

[57:27] become uh you know but but what I can

[57:32] say is that you you know this is a local

[57:34] reliability energy infrastructure need

[57:37] and project and it will be fulfilling

[57:40] the local energy needs first we won't

[57:43] necessarily be able to say whether or

[57:44] not it'll ever be sold in another state

[57:48] but what we can say is that when there's

[57:50] a need it'll serve the local need

[57:53] first do you can you um so the last the

[57:57] last part about selling we'll just we'll

[57:59] just scratch that um but how how in your

[58:02] guys's opinion will the um how will you

[58:05] get a return on investment and how will

[58:07] the rate payers be impacted by

[58:10] that like any other infrastructure

[58:12] project this you know project has a you

[58:16] know uh an upfront investment that's uh

[58:19] paid off over time through its Revenue

[58:22] contract that's with whomever the

[58:26] off-taker is going to end up being and

[58:29] that's we don't know that

[58:32] yet okay yeah councilwoman KY thank you

[58:39] um given the

[58:41] please it's a

[58:43] presentation we need to listen thank

[58:47] you given the strong opposition from our

[58:50] community regarding the battery storage

[58:52] facility in seedar Wy does our Town's

[58:55] position influence

[58:57] your decision to proceed with the

[58:58] project additionally why would a

[59:01] business not local to seedar wooly join

[59:03] the Chamber of Commerce if there are no

[59:05] plans to maintain a long-term presence

[59:07] here how do you justify this action in

[59:10] light of the community's clear

[59:15] concerns we understand that there are a

[59:18] lot of concerns and part of the main

[59:21] reason that we're here is uh a part of

[59:25] the process of address ing those

[59:27] concerns um this project is critically

[59:30] needed and would not be in consideration

[59:33] if it weren't so uh it does still

[59:35] require an exhaustive approval process

[59:39] and we take all of the feedback in into

[59:42] consideration along the way

[59:45] um tell I would add to that um your your

[59:49] question about the Chamber of Commerce

[59:50] that this project does plan to be here

[59:53] for 20 years um the the the life of the

[59:57] project um is that long so being a part

[1:00:00] of the chamber is really the the we are

[1:00:03] continually trying to invest in the

[1:00:04] community um that's what we believe the

[1:00:06] project to do as well as um being able

[1:00:10] to to be a a business um representative

[1:00:14] amongst the other chamber members so

[1:00:16] what I hear from the county from the

[1:00:20] citizens is that they don't want you

[1:00:22] here yet you've joined a chamber to make

[1:00:26] that

[1:00:33] decision so it so if we didn't want you

[1:00:36] here you're saying that you you're

[1:00:38] already showing that you plan on being

[1:00:40] here so is this all for nothing no it

[1:00:43] was our effort to to show that we wanted

[1:00:45] to be in the community obviously this

[1:00:48] again we've we're in the early stages of

[1:00:50] this project um there is so much more to

[1:00:54] go through through the permitting

[1:00:55] process but we wanted that that's our

[1:00:58] attempt to to show that we are we are

[1:01:01] committed to being here for the period

[1:01:02] of time that that we have we've stated

[1:01:05] the project to be be part of the

[1:01:07] community so it's it's not saying we're

[1:01:10] going to be here regardless of of what

[1:01:12] the community

[1:01:14] wants okay councilman lavaka thank you

[1:01:17] um I'm curious about the business model

[1:01:20] as well because if you don't know who

[1:01:22] you're selling it to or what the the

[1:01:25] cost of that was would be how can you

[1:01:27] Endeavor into a business venture and

[1:01:29] then is there government subsidizing

[1:01:31] that's going into the initial

[1:01:34] investment uh I'll take the second part

[1:01:38] first um the project would be uh

[1:01:43] eligible for um various tax uh benefits

[1:01:48] as part of the inflation reduction

[1:01:51] act um and then sorry the the first part

[1:01:55] was the how if you don't know what your

[1:01:57] return is going to be how do you how do

[1:02:00] you know if your investment is even

[1:02:01] going to pay off is it because it's

[1:02:04] government funded or subsidized that's

[1:02:07] uh definitely above my pay grade but uh

[1:02:10] the I guess the short answer would be

[1:02:13] that if it you know the every project

[1:02:17] has

[1:02:17] to survive on its own merits and this

[1:02:21] one's no different um so

[1:02:24] we we would

[1:02:26] leave it there okay um I I understand a

[1:02:31] lot of people actually vote for this the

[1:02:33] climate act in Olympia and so they they

[1:02:37] uh you know this is a response to that

[1:02:40] and this is what you guys are saying

[1:02:41] that these are going up around the state

[1:02:43] and uh you know there is a lot of people

[1:02:45] that are upset by that because it goes

[1:02:47] right in their backyard but then they

[1:02:49] themselves continue to vote for that so

[1:02:52] it's ironic but um it is one of those

[1:02:55] deals that this is the response it seems

[1:02:57] to those decisions made and and how they

[1:03:00] how they vote right thanks councilman

[1:03:05] ly thank

[1:03:07] you I listened to the meeting you had

[1:03:11] over at the community center and I've

[1:03:12] listened here and I'm not a very smart

[1:03:16] guy and everybody's concerned

[1:03:19] about Hansen Creek the river

[1:03:23] population and I'm not hearing any that

[1:03:26] sues any of those problems and like I

[1:03:29] say I'm not real smart but is there what

[1:03:31] am I

[1:03:32] missing you know can can you speak to a

[1:03:35] different way to me so I can

[1:03:38] understand there's there's got to be

[1:03:40] something I'm

[1:03:42] missing I I don't think that you are the

[1:03:44] the project still has to undergo its uh

[1:03:47] environmental review process through FC

[1:03:51] and uh if there's not an impact that

[1:03:54] can't be mitigated then the project

[1:03:56] won't proceed

[1:03:57] forward well probably one of the things

[1:04:01] I probably am missing is my distrust for

[1:04:03] the the way that the government's doing

[1:04:05] their thing is basically bypassing

[1:04:08] everybody but that's

[1:04:12] [Applause]

[1:04:17] probably but I do appreciate you being

[1:04:19] here it's just it I there's I need some

[1:04:23] more in there

[1:04:26] I actually have to concur with

[1:04:27] councilman ly in that we value our

[1:04:29] Farmland here we value the the the water

[1:04:32] that we have here it's our livelihood it

[1:04:34] is our livelihood and we respect it and

[1:04:37] we take care of it so I guess my

[1:04:39] question would be to you you're talking

[1:04:42] about these plans that you have in place

[1:04:44] for safety for um mitigation for um you

[1:04:49] know whatever evacuation if that were to

[1:04:50] take but I my question is are there any

[1:04:53] assurances because I'm not hearing any

[1:04:55] Assurance is actually what I'm what I'm

[1:04:58] I'm G getting more questions there's

[1:05:00] more questions that I I find myself

[1:05:02] asking so um you know I I understand the

[1:05:07] project is to develop power but isn't it

[1:05:10] only for 4 hours and 40,000 homes

[1:05:12] approximately it's not like if power

[1:05:14] goes out that's all it would do

[1:05:17] correct not not technically um we

[1:05:21] provide that uh kind of as a way to

[1:05:24] contextualize how much energy it's

[1:05:26] storing um but realistically you could

[1:05:30] think of it as you know 200,000 homes

[1:05:33] for for four hours or 100,000 homes for

[1:05:37] eight hours or you know just it kind of

[1:05:40] depends on what the need is how it gets

[1:05:42] dispatched and where where would it be

[1:05:44] dispatched would it be here in the scaga

[1:05:46] valley or it would be elsewhere it's it

[1:05:48] like I said earlier it's going to go to

[1:05:50] its closest need first uh so the local

[1:05:54] need uh we be

[1:05:57] I serviced first um to answer your

[1:06:00] question okay I'm sorry I didn't I

[1:06:03] missed the first

[1:06:05] part well I I just want to reiterate

[1:06:09] that this is our farmland and our water

[1:06:12] is precious to us as it is everywhere

[1:06:15] else it's our

[1:06:16] livelihood um and it's kind of

[1:06:20] perplexing that you're going to run the

[1:06:22] power underneath Hansen Creek is what I

[1:06:24] was told is how you're actually going to

[1:06:25] do that is run it underneath Hansen

[1:06:27] Creek MH and what if there is um a

[1:06:32] breakdown in the um means by which

[1:06:37] you're using to transport that

[1:06:39] power it it will be boarded underneath

[1:06:43] and it'll be we don't have a final depth

[1:06:45] but our engineering team has looked at

[1:06:46] it and said that it'll be at a minimum

[1:06:48] 10 to 15 feet below the scour depth of

[1:06:51] the uh bottom of Hanson Creek and could

[1:06:55] is there a possibility that there could

[1:06:57] be gases or toxins that could be

[1:06:59] released and then seep up into that

[1:07:00] Creek no this is just for the the actual

[1:07:04] conductor themselves that's the only

[1:07:07] element that's underneath the

[1:07:10] creek okay all right mam mayor if I yeah

[1:07:14] go ahead counc Henderson um I got kind

[1:07:17] of a four-part question here so bear

[1:07:20] with me we'll um uh what what other

[1:07:24] sites were investigated

[1:07:26] um so you guys are tanasa correct you

[1:07:28] guys are not Goldfinch Energy Services

[1:07:31] Goldfinch Energy Services are they the

[1:07:33] investor and you are the

[1:07:36] contractor the project was initially

[1:07:38] developed by originated and developed by

[1:07:42] tanasa we the still the uh retained as

[1:07:46] the developer uh if the project does end

[1:07:49] up moving forward the you know exact

[1:07:51] ownership model will be yet to be

[1:07:54] determined but what go Finch was was the

[1:07:57] you know

[1:07:58] initial uh project company that tanasa

[1:08:02] formed to develop the the project okay

[1:08:05] and um so what other what other sites

[1:08:08] did you investigate before settling on

[1:08:10] this location and what factors what were

[1:08:14] the factors that made the determination

[1:08:16] to put it on um a natural resource land

[1:08:20] so uh we looked at several factors

[1:08:23] there's uh I'd say first and foremost

[1:08:26] there's proximity to the substation uh

[1:08:29] being the the

[1:08:30] primary you know variable that we want

[1:08:33] to constrain that impact the most the

[1:08:37] transmission line uh and then you're

[1:08:39] looking at you know things like parcel

[1:08:42] size um and then you're looking at you

[1:08:45] know what are the environmental

[1:08:46] considerations of a particular parcel so

[1:08:49] wet lenss uh you know any sort of

[1:08:53] excluded areas um and we actually looked

[1:08:56] at quite a large number of parcels uh

[1:09:00] around that

[1:09:01] substation um I don't have an exact

[1:09:03] number for you but it was it was a lot

[1:09:07] um and at the end of the day you know

[1:09:09] there's a lot of constraints that start

[1:09:10] Xing pieces out like you have to exclude

[1:09:12] an area because it has an easement on it

[1:09:15] or uh you so there's a lot of

[1:09:17] considerations that go into kind of what

[1:09:20] boils down to the final parcel selection

[1:09:23] and then at the end of it you know

[1:09:24] you've got a find a willing partner in a

[1:09:27] landowner as well so we we did look kind

[1:09:30] of at a lot but I would say that egg NRL

[1:09:34] is an overwhelming zoning

[1:09:36] designation uh in the vicinity of that

[1:09:39] substation and major utility uses are a

[1:09:42] permitted use with a special use permit

[1:09:45] okay um I'd like to talk a little bit

[1:09:47] about that too for um Wetland mitigation

[1:09:50] uh this site on your guys's initial

[1:09:53] report states that it is within the

[1:09:56] 100-year flood plane uh what is your

[1:09:58] mitigation plan for the wetlands and the

[1:10:00] flood planes on site and also to note

[1:10:03] our county code prohibits building

[1:10:05] critical facilities within special flood

[1:10:07] Hazard areas unless there are no feas

[1:10:11] feasible Alternatives available so how

[1:10:13] do we determine that we have no feasible

[1:10:17] Alternatives available to build a

[1:10:18] battery storage site so the uh all of

[1:10:22] the project elements will be elevated

[1:10:24] out of the flood plane so so we'll just

[1:10:25] take that off from the top that either

[1:10:28] through uh Earth elevation or uh

[1:10:32] installed on peers um or a combination

[1:10:36] of the two uh that will obviously you

[1:10:40] know impact Wetlands as well and we're

[1:10:43] uh We've submitted a mitigation plan to

[1:10:45] the state uh for their concurrence and

[1:10:48] that would include uh offsetting from a

[1:10:51] local mitigation Bank

[1:10:56] Council lavaka um I'm still I'm trying

[1:10:59] to wrap my head around um we've got the

[1:11:02] battery station and it's going to

[1:11:04] survive it's going to supply power to

[1:11:07] scet County so for roughly 16 hours if

[1:11:10] it was the immediate need um so 16 hours

[1:11:14] we don't have that many blackouts for

[1:11:16] one and then uh a regular home base so I

[1:11:19] would imagine it would go to the

[1:11:20] hospitals first but if it goes to the

[1:11:22] homes and stuff like that I don't know

[1:11:24] that anybody's at such an need where

[1:11:25] they need power for for that immediate

[1:11:28] that it would justify the high cost of

[1:11:30] this program which seems to be pretty

[1:11:31] high and pretty extensive for just 16

[1:11:34] hours if it was to just go here if it's

[1:11:37] 4 hours for 200,000 homes that's that's

[1:11:40] really nothing uh I mean is that during

[1:11:42] Peak usage everybody's got their

[1:11:44] microwaves and their washers going or is

[1:11:46] it just your average average day in the

[1:11:48] home right and we have we have sources

[1:11:52] we have natural gas and we have energy

[1:11:55] um there is a growing need because we're

[1:11:57] killing off our energy supplies but if

[1:11:59] that does turn around does it make sense

[1:12:02] to do that or will the will it be

[1:12:03] abandoned I guess I'm sure there would

[1:12:06] be a

[1:12:07] decommissioning requirement in that but

[1:12:09] what if it is

[1:12:10] abandoned uh so FC would be responsible

[1:12:14] for you know we we do have to submit and

[1:12:17] have submitted a decommissioning plan

[1:12:19] with FC it'll get finalized uh again

[1:12:23] before we get our site certificate and

[1:12:26] as part of that decommissioning plan we

[1:12:29] pay uh fsec on an annual basis and they

[1:12:32] monitor the the project and they monitor

[1:12:35] our compliance with our project

[1:12:37] conditions but who would pay the money

[1:12:39] for four hours of service for 200,000

[1:12:42] homes or if you do 16 just scet County

[1:12:45] the entire County you got maybe 16 hours

[1:12:48] of usage once and then you got to

[1:12:50] recharge everything again which means we

[1:12:52] need that grid back going by that time

[1:12:54] if the power's out for 16 hours and it's

[1:12:56] out for 24 hours or 48 hours if it's

[1:12:59] that kind of a crisis um where does the

[1:13:02] financial stability come in or incentive

[1:13:04] for the company to even do

[1:13:07] it I would uh you know have to say that

[1:13:11] again the individual project economics

[1:13:13] are confidential but every project has

[1:13:15] to be able to survive uh you know if we

[1:13:20] didn't believe in the project viability

[1:13:23] we wouldn't be bringing it forward

[1:13:26] I just don't want to see where all the

[1:13:28] sudden we're setting up infrastructure

[1:13:30] and then we get rid of our Natural

[1:13:32] Energy uh ability because the way the

[1:13:35] state votes um and so we lose that and

[1:13:38] then the prices go skyrocketing for

[1:13:41] people to be able to power their homes

[1:13:42] at enormous rates and there's

[1:13:44] infrastructure set in place that would

[1:13:46] be the investment opportunity I could

[1:13:47] see but not just like we wouldn't need

[1:13:50] that right now we haven't had a blackout

[1:13:52] like that in scaga County where we've

[1:13:53] ever needed that so unless there's

[1:13:56] something in the future that we don't

[1:13:58] know about just

[1:14:01] seems I would have to agree with them in

[1:14:03] fact uh PSC sat here and gave us two

[1:14:05] presentations over this last year and we

[1:14:07] asked about energy usage and how the

[1:14:10] grid was impacting especially when we're

[1:14:11] talking about the state coming down to

[1:14:14] the city level and telling us that we

[1:14:15] need to start building more homes more

[1:14:17] homes more homes higher density higher

[1:14:19] density and they 10 I'm asking about

[1:14:22] this the grid and whether we can

[1:14:23] actually accept that

[1:14:25] energy usage in order to make that a

[1:14:27] viable reality for the city of sudra

[1:14:29] wooly and in all of those conversations

[1:14:32] we have been told that our energy is

[1:14:35] completely fine we have no issue and

[1:14:37] that we should have proper energy in

[1:14:39] order to build those homes and this

[1:14:41] seems to me as if this project has been

[1:14:43] going on and completely contradicts

[1:14:46] exactly what we've been told by

[1:14:48] psse at the local

[1:14:50] level I yeah

[1:14:54] [Applause]

[1:14:57] councilman councilman cooch do you have

[1:14:59] other

[1:15:04] questions yes I do um you you say this

[1:15:09] uh

[1:15:11] sorry you say this technology is uh

[1:15:15] pretty new um but from what I've been

[1:15:19] reading uh the there's a we're on the

[1:15:22] verge of a um storage Revolution

[1:15:26] shifting from lithium uh battery storage

[1:15:31] that has fire issues to more advanced

[1:15:34] solid state in fact that's where the EV

[1:15:38] industry is going Volkswagen

[1:15:41] Toyota and would you then have to shift

[1:15:44] your technology I mean how long is this

[1:15:47] technology going to even last that's my

[1:15:52] question yeah

[1:15:55] uh you're right uh there are some

[1:15:57] Advanced uh you know solid state battery

[1:16:01] technologies uh in research however I

[1:16:05] would say they are probably a decade

[1:16:07] away for uh you know full scale

[1:16:10] commercialization uh so lithium ion

[1:16:13] battery technology which is uh

[1:16:15] commercial and bankable we would expect

[1:16:18] this to continue to be there for at

[1:16:20] least in the next 15 to 20 years uh as

[1:16:24] far as is uh you know changing the kind

[1:16:29] of a technology what we have installed I

[1:16:31] think we'll continue to see some uh

[1:16:34] enhancements within the lithiumion

[1:16:36] Battery Technology that will be

[1:16:38] incorporated into this uh project as

[1:16:41] part of the operational cycle uh but

[1:16:45] right now lithium ion battery technology

[1:16:47] is the commercial proven and the other

[1:16:50] technology that you're are referring to

[1:16:52] probably a you know decade away before

[1:16:54] being Bank of and

[1:16:56] Commercial all right thank you okay

[1:17:00] councilman Burns honestly this is more

[1:17:02] of a comment than a question um from the

[1:17:06] emails I've gotten and the conversations

[1:17:08] I've had with constituents what I came

[1:17:11] here expecting or wanting to hear

[1:17:13] tonight was about the the safety and how

[1:17:17] exactly everything worked with one of

[1:17:19] these units when it came to if there was

[1:17:22] combustion if there's possibility of the

[1:17:23] contamination in the creek

[1:17:25] and your answer was essentially well

[1:17:27] we'll figure it out when we get

[1:17:29] there show up with a battery and just

[1:17:32] say you know hey the last three projects

[1:17:34] we use this brand battery and this is

[1:17:36] what happened this is what happens if it

[1:17:38] burns this is what happens if there's a

[1:17:40] possibility for rain runoff or

[1:17:42] contamination if it doesn't burn at the

[1:17:44] hottest temperature that will burn off

[1:17:45] all of those chemicals this is the

[1:17:47] result this is how far um the chemicals

[1:17:50] have been found on the ground after it

[1:17:51] was on fire that's what I was expecting

[1:17:54] we were going to hear from you tonight

[1:17:56] so I feel like I had almost none of my

[1:18:00] questions answered which did not make me

[1:18:03] feel comfortable with this at all it

[1:18:05] made me want to push back even more on

[1:18:07] this project so I feel like we

[1:18:10] [Applause]

[1:18:13] didn't as a as representatives of the

[1:18:16] company I expect that your goal is to

[1:18:18] come here and convince us that we should

[1:18:20] be okay with this and convince them that

[1:18:21] it's safe but I don't feel like you

[1:18:24] really Achi that goal at all and and so

[1:18:27] I you might want to change the way that

[1:18:28] you're considering this because I'm not

[1:18:31] walking away with the solid knowledge of

[1:18:34] your safety protocols at other

[1:18:35] facilities maybe yeah if I may there is

[1:18:39] one uh I think we have been saying that

[1:18:42] in the case of a thermal runaway or

[1:18:45] battery fire because of the change in

[1:18:47] the CES because of the change in the

[1:18:49] technology these fires will be limited

[1:18:52] to One battery enclosure only

[1:18:55] um there's no such a facility fire and

[1:18:59] all the fires that happened in the last

[1:19:01] 3 4 years Mass landing and other places

[1:19:05] actually validated the thesis that we

[1:19:08] are telling which is there is no

[1:19:10] facility in The Last 5 Years the whole

[1:19:13] facility has gone on fire and design

[1:19:17] worked as you know as per the code it

[1:19:20] just contained to Only One battery

[1:19:22] enclosure only so that's a validation of

[1:19:25] you know kind of assurance that we are

[1:19:27] telling that in the case of a thermal

[1:19:29] Runway it does not spread to the

[1:19:31] adjoining

[1:19:33] enclosur but you're assuring me that

[1:19:35] only one battery catches on fire but I

[1:19:37] want to know what if it's raining at

[1:19:39] that point if that battery burns up

[1:19:41] entirely What's Left Behind for is there

[1:19:44] Ash that's going to get run off into the

[1:19:47] Waterway if it's not burned up entirely

[1:19:49] because we have a torrential downpour

[1:19:51] and it slows down the fire it doesn't

[1:19:52] reach that critical temperature that

[1:19:54] actually allows it to burn off the

[1:19:55] chemicals that are there what happens

[1:19:57] then if it's a windy day and it's not

[1:20:00] raining where does that Ash go what's in

[1:20:02] the ash th those are the questions I'm

[1:20:05] I'm curious about yeah as Mike mentioned

[1:20:07] uh you know some of the testing that we

[1:20:10] have seen after the reference incidents

[1:20:12] are showing no contamination in the soil

[1:20:15] and there's no toxicity in the you know

[1:20:18] plume gases and again as part of the

[1:20:21] emergency respons it's our

[1:20:23] responsibility to give you the plume

[1:20:25] analysis and hazardous mitigation

[1:20:27] analysis for your fire department

[1:20:31] review yes go ahead cman

[1:20:34] Henderson thank you uh so as as

[1:20:37] representatives from tanasa you're

[1:20:40] proposing building this project um can I

[1:20:43] ask how many best facilities tanasa has

[1:20:46] successfully built and

[1:20:48] operated there are uh 200 megawatts of

[1:20:52] tanasa developed best in operation right

[1:20:55] now 200 megaw of tanasa developed best

[1:20:58] under construction and 10,000 megaw in

[1:21:04] development how many buildings is that

[1:21:06] if you may how many actual buildings

[1:21:09] you're saying the megawatts how much

[1:21:10] does each facility produce or hold uh

[1:21:15] the exact you know so I would say there

[1:21:18] are in a range from about 150 megawatts

[1:21:20] to 300 megawatts and you know so each

[1:21:24] one is in kind of a 2 or 250 range

[1:21:28] so you got like 200ish out and 200 200

[1:21:32] plan and then a couple under development

[1:21:36] yeah so how many uh a

[1:21:39] couple in terms of 100 facilities

[1:21:42] facilities uh the 10,000 megawatt under

[1:21:45] development that Tommy referred to

[1:21:48] equates to about 50 facilities under

[1:21:51] development so that's that's 1 10,000

[1:21:54] megawatt

[1:21:55] under

[1:21:56] construction uh one 200 megawatt

[1:22:00] facility that's up and running and the

[1:22:03] 10,000 so that's three right there's no

[1:22:07] three facilities like so so if we're

[1:22:09] taking if we're taking this proposed

[1:22:11] project as one facility right just this

[1:22:14] one right um taking out the megawatt

[1:22:17] confusing talk how many sites have you

[1:22:21] guys

[1:22:22] built successfully and are operating how

[1:22:26] many different sites there's we have to

[1:22:29] be uh careful how we respond to this

[1:22:31] because not necessarily every tanasa

[1:22:34] developed uh project is owned by the

[1:22:36] same entity so there's confidentiality

[1:22:39] agreements that apply there uh but the

[1:22:43] as I said there's you know a 200

[1:22:46] megawatt facility in operation there's a

[1:22:49] 200 megawatt facility in construction

[1:22:52] and uh 10,000 megawatts of projects in

[1:22:57] development so you have one facility and

[1:23:00] one under construction that's right

[1:23:02] thank

[1:23:08] you okay right are there any other

[1:23:13] questions councilman okay go ahead um

[1:23:16] who who did the RFP for this project the

[1:23:19] request for

[1:23:22] proposal uh we are the project responds

[1:23:27] to uh utility rfps so psse so in this

[1:23:31] case we're responding to a PSC RFP

[1:23:34] okay counc laka yeah so I just go back

[1:23:43] to um when PSC was here and they were we

[1:23:46] were talking about the growth and they

[1:23:48] insisted we had plenty of energy to

[1:23:50] suffice the growth and um you know I

[1:23:53] think Sarah at the very time you said

[1:23:54] it's April and I'm still getting texts

[1:23:56] because it's wi because I'm being asked

[1:23:58] to shut down my heater um and they said

[1:24:00] oh that that must be a mistake there's

[1:24:02] definitely plenty of of uh energy and

[1:24:05] then they're the ones requesting the and

[1:24:07] then the facility doesn't make much

[1:24:09] sense because like I said it's not

[1:24:11] financially sound at this point and it

[1:24:13] hasn't something hasn't been something

[1:24:15] that would have been um over the

[1:24:18] duration of of Washington right um so

[1:24:21] it's interesting to find that they're

[1:24:23] the ones that are kind of requesting

[1:24:25] this unless there's uh you know I mean

[1:24:27] it would have to be profitable to

[1:24:30] them that would be who pays for energy I

[1:24:33] guess with PC I would just add you know

[1:24:35] this uh this is preparing for the future

[1:24:39] um like you like we said we've we've

[1:24:41] responded to to psc's RFP

[1:24:45] um we wouldn't be PSC wouldn't be

[1:24:48] investing um in these future uh kind of

[1:24:52] resources if uh it's not needed and also

[1:24:56] um brownouts aren't happening yet uh but

[1:25:01] the transition to these intermittent

[1:25:02] resources uh they're expressing the

[1:25:05] confidence to communities because uh a

[1:25:07] lot of this has already been accounted

[1:25:09] for in that IRP um so that those are

[1:25:13] just kind of some thoughts on

[1:25:15] that I see they're saying that we're

[1:25:17] good because in time they hope to have

[1:25:20] facilities like these approved by the

[1:25:22] communities this is all future planning

[1:25:24] yeah and this is all in response to the

[1:25:27] climate act that Washington voted in you

[1:25:31] guys voted in so maybe not you guys but

[1:25:35] overwhelming people in Washington I

[1:25:37] didn't so yeah and then just to clarify

[1:25:41] when we're talking about the communities

[1:25:43] voting this in the city of Cedar wooly

[1:25:46] and the scet county actually have no

[1:25:50] actual say in this approval process this

[1:25:53] is at the state level so this is

[1:25:55] bypassed the local community um and so I

[1:25:58] just want to to make that clear in

[1:26:00] regards to um any sort of Council vote

[1:26:03] that there will be no vote here because

[1:26:06] as you can tell we probably have a lot

[1:26:08] of the same concerns that you have um in

[1:26:10] fact I also have more questions as this

[1:26:13] comes through and I'm more insecure

[1:26:16] about the entire project after listening

[1:26:18] to it because we don't have

[1:26:21] emergency um response

[1:26:25] drafted at all it's all a matter of you

[1:26:28] know when this project is approved or

[1:26:30] when we do this or when we do that and

[1:26:32] that leaves everybody feeling completely

[1:26:35] uncomfortable um we councilman Burns

[1:26:38] mentioned that you know his questions

[1:26:40] weren't answered in regards to radius

[1:26:41] and and effect and all of that if if you

[1:26:45] know we do have an emergency you know

[1:26:47] there there's a lot of unanswered

[1:26:49] questions that leave our community with

[1:26:51] more questions and leave us uh more more

[1:26:54] insecure about it and we also feel a

[1:26:57] little bit more uncomfortable in the

[1:26:58] fact that psse was telling us that we

[1:27:00] have proper grid and in fact it's coming

[1:27:03] forward that you know maybe we do now

[1:27:06] but nobody's nobody's talking about the

[1:27:08] future and all of that and again it goes

[1:27:10] back down to um to the state level where

[1:27:13] this stuff is coming from but I just

[1:27:14] wanted to be very clear about the fact

[1:27:16] that you know our our local community

[1:27:19] here is here to be heard and you should

[1:27:21] every single one of you that wants to

[1:27:23] speak should be heard

[1:27:24] um you have every right to do so we

[1:27:26] welcome you at any single council

[1:27:27] meeting to do so um but at this at this

[1:27:31] city level uh we are not able to vote on

[1:27:35] this councilman

[1:27:38] kesy I just wanted to say that I

[1:27:41] completely um agree with everybody up

[1:27:43] here and I'm so proud of all of you guys

[1:27:45] for all the questions and everything

[1:27:47] that you're asking I feel completely

[1:27:49] deceived by

[1:27:50] psse um and by you as well and I just

[1:27:54] hope that um you will listen to all of

[1:27:57] us that we don't want this and um not do

[1:28:05] [Applause]

[1:28:13] it so councilman do you have one

[1:28:16] last word that you want to I think

[1:28:18] everybody's gave their opinion do you

[1:28:20] have anything else to add

[1:28:24] uh no I think they're all great points

[1:28:26] and um I am concerned that uh it appears

[1:28:31] the wishes of a vast majority of our

[1:28:35] community as well as uh the entire

[1:28:38] Council it sounds like uh I hope that

[1:28:42] those uh comments and thoughts will be

[1:28:46] uh taken into account by um the state

[1:28:49] Regulators who regulate those because

[1:28:52] you know there's I mean

[1:28:54] everybody has to deal with this thing of

[1:28:56] nimi not in my backyard but in this case

[1:28:59] I really think there's so many concerns

[1:29:02] environmental concerns safety concerns

[1:29:05] uh and it's near quite a few homes that

[1:29:09] I just have significant concerns and I

[1:29:12] hope those are communicated in some way

[1:29:14] from our community to the state

[1:29:16] Regulators thank you all

[1:29:20] right so

[1:29:23] [Applause]

[1:29:24] yeah so uh Nicole Tommy Vu and um Mike

[1:29:30] also Brad we want to thank you very much

[1:29:31] for being here this evening coming um

[1:29:34] and answering our questions um we

[1:29:36] realize that you are here at the behest

[1:29:38] of our of our request but also that you

[1:29:41] have been requested by psse to also look

[1:29:45] to move forward with the possibility of

[1:29:47] building this project so um you know I

[1:29:52] know that you certainly probably have

[1:29:53] the feeling that that you seen as the

[1:29:55] enemy here um I don't know that you are

[1:29:58] truly the enemy I think that there's um

[1:30:00] things there's there are decisions that

[1:30:02] have made Beyond you beyond us and

[1:30:05] perhaps those are the people that we

[1:30:06] need to be asking these questions to as

[1:30:09] well so um I do but again I do want to

[1:30:12] thank you for being here um uh you know

[1:30:15] I respect your positions and what you

[1:30:18] are trying to do and what you believe in

[1:30:20] and we hope that you will feel the same

[1:30:22] about about us and uh where we stand on

[1:30:25] this issue so yeah all right um with

[1:30:29] that um I I do want to give you the

[1:30:33] option if you would like to stay we are

[1:30:35] going to open it up for public comment

[1:30:36] you're welcome to do that um if you do

[1:30:39] not wish to do that um you know you're

[1:30:41] certainly welcome to leave as well

[1:30:44] so sorry no we'd like to listen

[1:30:46] abolutely all right thank you all right

[1:30:49] so

[1:30:50] um I am going to call upon thank you

[1:30:55] Cy um

[1:30:57] those those individuals that have um

[1:31:02] signed up here on the public hearing I'm

[1:31:03] going to address them first I do have a

[1:31:06] request and that is if if you hear

[1:31:09] somebody come up and they um they share

[1:31:12] exactly what it is that you have wanted

[1:31:15] to share um you know feel free to say

[1:31:17] you know I just concur but you know you

[1:31:19] don't have to say it over and over and

[1:31:21] over again we hear you we hear you the

[1:31:23] first time we have her heard you the

[1:31:24] first time so um if you would be so kind

[1:31:26] to do that because we will limit it to 3

[1:31:28] minutes I mean if you do the math you

[1:31:30] know three minutes and we'll be here

[1:31:34] forever yeah so um so the first person

[1:31:38] that I have on the list tonight is

[1:31:39] actually Peter Browning and um

[1:31:41] commissioner

[1:31:51] Browning good evening I'm Peter Browning

[1:31:53] County commissioner and um thanks for

[1:31:56] joining us I do have to clarify a few

[1:31:58] things I was listed as one of the

[1:32:01] Consultants we met once and none of this

[1:32:04] was discussed the location none of it

[1:32:05] was really discussed so it's a little

[1:32:07] uncomfortable seeing my name listed as

[1:32:09] as a consultant in your

[1:32:10] paperwork

[1:32:13] um also I want to hear if there's a

[1:32:16] difference between proximity to the

[1:32:18] power station or proximity to the

[1:32:20] Bonville power administration's major

[1:32:23] Tower over head which would be a massive

[1:32:25] input to a grid and a grid that would

[1:32:28] serve the whole state so when you talk

[1:32:30] about

[1:32:31] proximity what is it so that's really

[1:32:33] important to me knowing if it's a a

[1:32:35] money maker for an overall grid um there

[1:32:39] may be a place for battery farms in our

[1:32:41] County but scet with the flood Plains

[1:32:43] the farmland and next to a creek a creek

[1:32:46] we've just spent Millions on just

[1:32:48] restoring millions of dollars over the

[1:32:50] last 10 years have restored that Creek

[1:32:52] to its salmon recovery y it's not this

[1:32:55] is not the place for this the county is

[1:32:57] not against battery Banks we the

[1:32:59] Commissioners and said absolutely it it

[1:33:01] is a part of the bigger picture of of

[1:33:03] care and power but we're aware that

[1:33:06] other possible locations this County may

[1:33:08] be more perfect thank you alen for that

[1:33:10] I appreciate you asking that question

[1:33:12] there are other places so we do however

[1:33:14] believe that they should be required to

[1:33:16] follow our most serious land use

[1:33:18] requirements not bypass them with fsec

[1:33:21] that's frustrating for us next to a

[1:33:24] creek or a river this is just tooo

[1:33:26] obvious they can't guarantee that you

[1:33:27] get a response from a team in here under

[1:33:29] 24 hours that was the discussion 3 weeks

[1:33:31] ago you can't get somebody here in under

[1:33:34] 24 hours 24 hours is not good enough for

[1:33:37] when you're putting volunteer firemen at

[1:33:39] risk all of our firemen for the most

[1:33:42] part are volunteers you're putting them

[1:33:43] at risk with something that is

[1:33:45] potentially quite dangerous so again 24

[1:33:48] hours um there's not a way we can allow

[1:33:51] a stream that feeds into the SC the

[1:33:54] third largest river on the west coast

[1:33:57] could could get damaged from the runoff

[1:33:59] from any impact from this from these the

[1:34:01] batteries we need to be assured because

[1:34:04] again the third largest river on the

[1:34:05] west coast massive Salmon River and H

[1:34:10] and Creek goes right into it if a flood

[1:34:13] Covers Part or all of the battery Bank

[1:34:15] during flood season now here's another

[1:34:16] inconsistency you said it would be low

[1:34:18] profile and then right after that you're

[1:34:20] saying no it's up on stilts which is it

[1:34:24] uh it can't be both so we need to know

[1:34:26] is it going to be way up and it's going

[1:34:27] be quite visible and offensive or is it

[1:34:29] going to be low profile being very

[1:34:31] vulnerable to um a flood and a flood

[1:34:34] around here are very very massive at

[1:34:36] times they're very scary they're huge

[1:34:38] and that would be really one of the one

[1:34:39] of the waterways

[1:34:41] so um so it could be detrimental impact

[1:34:45] on the Hansen Creek and the gadget again

[1:34:48] uh and I understand this is new

[1:34:50] technology I understand that but at the

[1:34:52] same time I don't feel comfortable being

[1:34:54] the test case for new technology um one

[1:34:58] place that's in operation and quite a

[1:35:00] few more in the works absolutely and

[1:35:02] this could be the best thing in the

[1:35:03] world but we have to be assured that

[1:35:05] we're not going to be put at risk

[1:35:07] commissioner Brown in your three minutes

[1:35:08] is up I apologize your three minutes is

[1:35:09] up um also I want to address the the

[1:35:12] count or the uh public here that it was

[1:35:16] a it was a presentation that was given

[1:35:17] to the council so when you're giving

[1:35:19] public comment the public comment should

[1:35:20] be also addressed to the council those

[1:35:21] are excellent questions I don't want to

[1:35:23] dis miss any of them not in one of them

[1:35:25] not even your comment but um just

[1:35:28] they're they're not here to answer

[1:35:29] questions for the public so thank you

[1:35:31] yeah thank

[1:35:39] you uh Connie

[1:35:49] CER oh I can talk fast

[1:35:54] okay hi my name is Connie CER and I am a

[1:35:57] board certified Safety Management

[1:35:58] specialist and I work in industrial

[1:36:00] safety and health for a living but today

[1:36:02] that's not what I'm going to talk to you

[1:36:03] about um in the late 1960s the

[1:36:06] government and the energy companies were

[1:36:08] telling all of us including those of us

[1:36:09] in scet county and they that the demand

[1:36:12] in this state and Nation would exceed

[1:36:14] the supply that we have for energy

[1:36:16] unless we built nuclear power plants

[1:36:19] there was six supposedly supposed to be

[1:36:21] built in Washington state one here on

[1:36:23] backas

[1:36:24] the citizens were told by politicians

[1:36:25] and corporations that this was the

[1:36:27] newest and best form of energy and it

[1:36:29] would solve all of our energy needs with

[1:36:32] minimal environmental impact citizens of

[1:36:34] skic County knew better and after a long

[1:36:37] hardfought battle to save backis hill

[1:36:40] and samish Island in 1980 after 12 years

[1:36:44] the plans for the power plants were

[1:36:45] moved to Hanford Gadget County

[1:36:47] implemented regulations to prevent this

[1:36:49] from happening again when it came to

[1:36:50] nuclear power yet here we are again

[1:36:54] with the newest fad for politicians and

[1:36:57] for corporations the same old snake oil

[1:37:00] with a new label and new Peddlers that's

[1:37:03] it we're here being told generation

[1:37:06] after generation that giving up our

[1:37:08] environment for energy projects that are

[1:37:12] supposedly in our interests when the

[1:37:14] reality is the more energy that's made

[1:37:16] and saved it just means that the more

[1:37:18] energy is sold and used this cycle is

[1:37:21] devastating and it is our job job as

[1:37:23] Citizens to continue our Legacy of

[1:37:25] protecting the gadget Valley from

[1:37:27] corporate greed and outof count

[1:37:29] interests Washington is at a Crossroads

[1:37:31] and it's evident by the vast number of

[1:37:32] energy companies that are flooding into

[1:37:34] Washington to become the next richest

[1:37:36] corporation with multiple forms of clean

[1:37:38] energy taking over our farmlands that do

[1:37:41] not provide a sustainable future for our

[1:37:43] children or for

[1:37:44] ourselves there's a term that was

[1:37:46] recently brought to my attention it's

[1:37:47] called greenwashing it means something

[1:37:50] such as a product or policy or a

[1:37:53] practice

[1:37:54] that appears to be more environmentally

[1:37:56] friendly or less environmentally

[1:37:58] damaging than it really

[1:38:00] is currently in Washington state there

[1:38:03] are 88,000 acres of land under lease

[1:38:06] agreement for green energy projects many

[1:38:09] of those acres are undeveloped or

[1:38:11] farmlands or native lands um CRA wooly

[1:38:15] bears the burden of being the major

[1:38:16] support for all of scet County from here

[1:38:18] all the way up River the burden of care

[1:38:20] and services Falls to Cedar Woolly and

[1:38:22] all the CI U River and we hold our own

[1:38:25] in the case of an emergency corporations

[1:38:27] aren't going to be here they're not

[1:38:28] going to be here to help us they're

[1:38:30] going to cut bait and leave behind

[1:38:31] lawyers and the laundry list of llc's

[1:38:34] and layers and layers of people that are

[1:38:37] supposedly working to service this plant

[1:38:41] the people of cedra wooly are resilient

[1:38:43] they're strong and they have long

[1:38:45] memories they waited for years to and

[1:38:49] they waited a few years to try these

[1:38:51] same old tricks again and it's not going

[1:38:53] to fly it took 12 years last time of

[1:38:55] fighting and all of these people here

[1:38:56] are willing to spend 12 more years

[1:38:58] fighting this

[1:39:07] one Scott

[1:39:12] Patterson hi everybody thanks for coming

[1:39:15] uh my name is Scott Patterson I'm just a

[1:39:17] concerned citizen I don't have a long

[1:39:19] list of

[1:39:20] qualifications uh but the first thing I

[1:39:22] want to do is thank you folks for saying

[1:39:24] everything that I was going to stand up

[1:39:26] here and

[1:39:27] say and uh I mean I I was raised in this

[1:39:30] Valley I raised my kids my kids are

[1:39:33] raising their kids right next door to

[1:39:35] this place and I don't believe a thing

[1:39:38] about it being safe there's just too

[1:39:40] many potential problems and um we really

[1:39:43] think you can find another place for it

[1:39:45] I'm going to give up the rest of my time

[1:39:46] there's 40 people that signed up that's

[1:39:48] two hours thank you thank you Judy hogas

[1:40:01] okay first of all I can say I want to

[1:40:03] change and make other comments that I

[1:40:06] wrote down here but I'm G to stick to

[1:40:08] what I

[1:40:10] wrote um first of all my name is Judy

[1:40:12] hoges I live on Warner Street 401 Warner

[1:40:15] Street in Cedar woly I know many of you

[1:40:17] personally friends acquaintances all of

[1:40:20] it some new acquaintances that have just

[1:40:22] stepped up for me

[1:40:24] um first of all I'm a former vice

[1:40:26] president real estate loan and

[1:40:27] Commercial loan officer per People's

[1:40:29] Bank which is a locally family-owned

[1:40:31] Bank in Wacom County and I did many

[1:40:35] commercial properties with developers on

[1:40:37] land be it Wetlands be it floods flood

[1:40:42] zones and you know I can understand

[1:40:44] mitigating the wetlands okay I'm going

[1:40:47] off script you guys I'm winging it here

[1:40:49] um mitigating and taking another parcel

[1:40:52] somewhere else and saying that's your

[1:40:53] Wetlands your tradeoff I get that the

[1:40:57] flood zones you can bring in your 60,000

[1:41:00] cubic yards of Phill I think is what you

[1:41:02] guys are proposing to do you bring that

[1:41:05] into that site have you guys planned on

[1:41:07] what it's going to do to the other

[1:41:08] Parcels that surround you water's going

[1:41:11] to run downhill to the lowest point

[1:41:14] developers got shut down so many times

[1:41:16] for housing developments to be put in

[1:41:19] because of they were in a flood zone if

[1:41:22] they had a water Source on their

[1:41:24] property a small cck let alone being a

[1:41:26] salmon bearing cck of five species of

[1:41:28] salmon that are born in that cck they go

[1:41:31] out to the ocean they come back and they

[1:41:33] spawn in that cck that doesn't happen

[1:41:35] very often we've done an investment

[1:41:38] millions of millions of dollars before

[1:41:39] my time here in Cedar

[1:41:42] willly and you know to say it won't

[1:41:45] happen it it can't happen um we it just

[1:41:49] it just is amazing to me all my mind is

[1:41:51] scrambled from this meeting already but

[1:41:54] the biggest thing when a commercial

[1:41:57] development developer came in I'm going

[1:41:58] to go fast here is he had come in he or

[1:42:01] she would come in and he' have a plan

[1:42:03] he'd have a business model he knew what

[1:42:06] he was going to make how many homes what

[1:42:08] style homes how much they were going to

[1:42:10] go for what his profit was going to

[1:42:12] be you guys are saying well we don't

[1:42:15] have all our business model get together

[1:42:17] together quite yet we don't have our

[1:42:20] fire safety plan issued yet but you guys

[1:42:22] take the risk in the community we'll let

[1:42:24] you know what we come up with and as our

[1:42:27] commissioner Patterson he mentioned that

[1:42:31] um Browning commissioner Browning I'm

[1:42:33] sorry um Browning that we're a volunteer

[1:42:36] base I don't know if you guys know what

[1:42:38] that is our community steps up and

[1:42:40] volunteers their time to go fight

[1:42:42] battles of hires emergencies in our town

[1:42:45] and when they have to go out and fight

[1:42:46] your battle our town is going to be

[1:42:47] limited and exposed and just at risk we

[1:42:51] won't have the coverage that we need for

[1:42:53] our community and our citizens to be

[1:42:55] safe I'm going to shut down I didn't say

[1:42:58] anything I

[1:42:59] wrote and I'm just I'm so angry I'm so

[1:43:03] angry but the biggest thing now you guys

[1:43:06] um your time is up can I say one thing

[1:43:08] Julia please just give me Scotty's time

[1:43:11] the the time is now for our community to

[1:43:14] stand up you guys showed that tonight

[1:43:16] and I appreciate every butt in the feet

[1:43:18] if you don't talk I don't care but I

[1:43:21] don't want you guys to think you can

[1:43:22] come come in here and first of all take

[1:43:24] our Eggland then you jeopardize our

[1:43:27] waterways our water source you

[1:43:29] jeopardize our wildlife and most of all

[1:43:32] you jeopardize citizens 10,000 over

[1:43:35] what's in this room and we're the

[1:43:38] community that's going to take on all

[1:43:39] the risks okay thank you okay and I'm

[1:43:43] sorry thank

[1:43:47] you so Matt

[1:43:50] Phillips Matt Phillips and a reminder

[1:43:53] you're addressing the council I'm sorry

[1:43:56] I want to make

[1:43:57] iact no Matt Phillips okay how about

[1:44:00] Matt

[1:44:15] Steinman first off I want to I want to

[1:44:17] thank um Mayor Johnson and our entire

[1:44:20] city council for all that you do for

[1:44:22] this community

[1:44:24] and uh and all the Fantastic questions

[1:44:26] that you you all posed today I think

[1:44:28] there's a lot of people who had like we

[1:44:31] all talked about had more questions than

[1:44:33] answers which is concerning um but thank

[1:44:35] you for the enlightening questions um so

[1:44:39] again my name is Matt styman I um am a

[1:44:43] fifth generation

[1:44:44] scatoni um I I've been farming

[1:44:48] organically here in scet for more than

[1:44:50] 20 years I currently manage more than

[1:44:53] 200 Acres of organic Farmland the

[1:44:55] majority of which is just Downstream

[1:44:58] from the proposed site Hansen Creek goes

[1:45:00] through our farm for almost a mile and

[1:45:04] we have put substantial amounts of of

[1:45:07] energy and work into into um sustaining

[1:45:10] and regenerating the creek and helping

[1:45:13] to bring back all five forms of

[1:45:16] androgenous salmon that we are now very

[1:45:18] proud to see come and spawn and go back

[1:45:21] down and organic farming

[1:45:24] is you have to work one with with nature

[1:45:29] and so I'm here today like I said I'm a

[1:45:33] farmer um but I'm not here as a farmer

[1:45:35] today I take that hat off I'm here as a

[1:45:38] scatoni as a father and as a very

[1:45:41] concerned resident and um I just I need

[1:45:45] to speak for for the land and and again

[1:45:49] the questions have not been answered in

[1:45:51] any appropriate way and in fact there's

[1:45:53] more questions than there were um but I

[1:45:55] want to take a step back so more than 45

[1:45:58] years ago this County in the and the

[1:46:01] citizens endeavored to protect our

[1:46:04] number one natural resource which is our

[1:46:07] farmland and the way we did that or one

[1:46:09] of the ways that we did that was to

[1:46:12] create the egg NRL zoning reality and

[1:46:16] what this does is allow us to only have

[1:46:18] one house per 40 acres so that a family

[1:46:21] farm can actually own enough land to be

[1:46:25] sustainable now I would I would argue

[1:46:27] that those economics have changed in the

[1:46:29] last 40 years and it's you need probably

[1:46:32] more than 40 acres if you really want to

[1:46:33] be a viable farmer you're almost just a

[1:46:36] gentleman Farmer at 40 acres anymore um

[1:46:39] and but what that really does when you

[1:46:42] remove the tax burden on that land is it

[1:46:46] allows the farmer to to have a cost

[1:46:50] structure that they can actually they

[1:46:52] can afford farming is more work in heart

[1:46:55] BL Blood Sweat and Tears there's not a

[1:46:58] lot of profit margin in it and so what I

[1:47:02] see here happening is we have we have

[1:47:04] large companies coming in and and trying

[1:47:07] to swoop in on this Farmland that has

[1:47:10] it's not devalued um from my standpoint

[1:47:13] and this community standpoint this is

[1:47:15] our natural resource again but it is

[1:47:17] devalued from a financial standpoint to

[1:47:19] allow farming to maintain itself in this

[1:47:22] Community Matt I'm sorry your time is up

[1:47:25] thank you thank you but Sally

[1:47:31] Carlson thank you Council I

[1:47:36] appreciate Council mayor

[1:47:40] Community I'm Sally Carlson my parents

[1:47:43] were graduates of the high school here

[1:47:45] in

[1:47:46] 1952 and 53 my grandparents and my mom

[1:47:50] grew up just down the road from where

[1:47:54] this proposed site is um my grandfather

[1:47:58] fished on the gadget for salmon my

[1:48:01] parents grandparents my

[1:48:03] great-grandparents are all buried here

[1:48:06] on this land my kids my grandkids live

[1:48:11] here the people who serve on this

[1:48:14] Council our County Commissioners and our

[1:48:18] other elected

[1:48:20] officials they make the law

[1:48:23] and rules for our people we elect them

[1:48:28] to do

[1:48:31] this the people on the FC committee were

[1:48:38] appointed they are steamrolling these

[1:48:41] energy projects through without regard

[1:48:44] for the

[1:48:47] residents of this Valley they're using

[1:48:51] our Farmland taking away housing

[1:48:54] endangering our

[1:48:56] Wildlife um and our drinking water

[1:49:00] that's

[1:49:01] concerning this is government overreach

[1:49:05] it's overreaching our city and county

[1:49:08] regulations and laws without due

[1:49:12] diligence

[1:49:14] tanasa has farmed out parts of this

[1:49:17] application Pro process to contractors

[1:49:21] who have obviously never stepped foot on

[1:49:25] that parcel of

[1:49:27] land to read these reports you would

[1:49:29] think that it's a desolate parcel of

[1:49:32] land

[1:49:34] Barren quite the opposite Hansen Creek

[1:49:37] is a living breathing stream with

[1:49:39] salmon it provides for the nearby

[1:49:42] nesting

[1:49:44] Eagles it provides for the deer that

[1:49:47] cross that land it provides for our elk

[1:49:50] herd here in this Valley lithium

[1:49:54] batteries are not the solution they are

[1:49:57] a

[1:49:59] Band-Aid they destroy more of our

[1:50:01] environment to produce these toxic

[1:50:04] things a battery storage site does not

[1:50:08] belong on this productive Rural

[1:50:11] Community Land so stop stop the insanity

[1:50:17] all right thank

[1:50:19] you Al Chandler

[1:50:24] Al

[1:50:34] Chandler thank you all Al Chandler uh

[1:50:37] currently

[1:50:39] um property owner in cedra willly and a

[1:50:41] business owner and I agree with all of

[1:50:45] you and I am am ask the city to U do

[1:50:50] what they can to stop this before it

[1:50:53] gets

[1:50:54] crazy and somebody gets hurt and I'll

[1:50:57] pass my time to people have better

[1:50:59] things to say thank

[1:51:05] you thank you Lance

[1:51:13] Hansen so we're a local farming family

[1:51:16] uh we've been around on burmaster road

[1:51:19] which is the next Road over since the

[1:51:21] 1940s

[1:51:22] we've owned the farm there it's less

[1:51:24] than two miles from this site uh my

[1:51:27] biggest issue is the loss of Farmland uh

[1:51:29] this is the last true agricultural

[1:51:31] County north of

[1:51:32] Olympia and uh we have a history of

[1:51:34] farming in this area and Farms protect

[1:51:37] open space and human sustenance by

[1:51:39] producing the food that you eat without

[1:51:41] Farms you L lose basic human survival

[1:51:43] and food security also grown locals an

[1:51:46] important aspect that will be lost if

[1:51:48] Farmland continues to be lost to

[1:51:50] projects like this uh Farms protect open

[1:51:53] space for wildlife elk and deer roam

[1:51:55] this area I actually just saw three

[1:51:57] Blacktail deer out there two weeks ago

[1:51:59] driving to my parents house uh it's a

[1:52:01] lie that this place has not been farmed

[1:52:04] uh hay has made there annually and the

[1:52:06] previous owner at a horse farm I drove

[1:52:08] by twice a day by this place uh my whole

[1:52:11] life so uh Farmland is already

[1:52:13] threatened by uh growth development and

[1:52:16] Industry and you not cannot replace it

[1:52:18] once it is gone we must protect what

[1:52:20] little is left from development as it is

[1:52:22] as a finite resource there is also the

[1:52:24] loss of income and local jobs from

[1:52:26] losing Farmland over time it's a huge

[1:52:29] part of the gadget County economy I do

[1:52:31] not support this project and it's

[1:52:33] obviously the whole Community is against

[1:52:35] it as well as the local Farm Bureau I'm

[1:52:37] on the farm schad County Farm Bureau

[1:52:39] board and we're against this project

[1:52:41] because of the loss of Farmland we

[1:52:43] cannot allow this to happen to lose more

[1:52:45] Farmland in this County also how can you

[1:52:48] call this a green energy project it's

[1:52:49] only energy storage not actually Greenly

[1:52:52] produced proding energy so to me that's

[1:52:54] kind of a

[1:52:55] misnomer so basically I don't want the

[1:52:58] loss of Farmland as important to me so

[1:53:00] all right thank

[1:53:05] you Pam

[1:53:14] Nelson hi I'm Pam Nelson I live at 29252

[1:53:18] hoen Road the property just south of the

[1:53:22] of the proposed property only on the

[1:53:24] other side of hoen road Hansen Creek

[1:53:27] runs through our property my son Matt

[1:53:29] was just here speaking so I don't want

[1:53:30] to repeat the five generations and all

[1:53:33] the Farmland but the wildlife the creek

[1:53:37] the salmon the birds the deer the

[1:53:41] coyotes the beaver it's amazing what

[1:53:44] comes through there and how beautiful it

[1:53:46] is and we live there we could live

[1:53:48] anywhere we live there because it's

[1:53:50] beautiful it's quiet it's private and no

[1:53:55] one wants that to be interrupted or

[1:53:58] taken away from us um I also our family

[1:54:02] also owns Foothills Toyota and Honda

[1:54:05] Burlington so I'm well aware of the

[1:54:08] lithium industry in the car business as

[1:54:10] well it's very

[1:54:12] controversial Automotive news comes out

[1:54:14] once a week just this week a dealership

[1:54:16] burned down in San Diego because of a

[1:54:19] lithium battery fire they couldn't put

[1:54:21] out um I think lithium

[1:54:24] batteries at least within the Auto

[1:54:27] industry are going to disappear within

[1:54:29] the next 15 20

[1:54:32] years it's a very competitive market and

[1:54:35] these companies that come in and with

[1:54:37] all due respect you all have a job to do

[1:54:40] but it's all for profit and what do you

[1:54:44] where do you think they're going to get

[1:54:45] the return selling that energy selling

[1:54:48] that and who's going to buy it us does

[1:54:51] that mean our our our energy bills go up

[1:54:56] talk about insurance talk to your

[1:54:58] insurance agent if there's a fire or

[1:55:00] they going to pay your claim if you have

[1:55:02] damage maybe but in the future will they

[1:55:04] cancel you or raise your rates so

[1:55:06] insurance is a huge issue safety is

[1:55:10] bigger than I think they even know and I

[1:55:13] really appreciate the council for all

[1:55:15] your questions they were wonderful um

[1:55:18] we're all with you and I think we should

[1:55:21] continue to be very vocal

[1:55:22] all right thank

[1:55:28] you Cindy

[1:55:38] Chandler hi I'm Cindy Chandler my

[1:55:41] husband is Al Chandler we own a business

[1:55:44] in Cedro woly we also own a farm and

[1:55:47] another piece of property for with my

[1:55:49] son and his fiance and and that property

[1:55:53] we just purchased last fall that was

[1:55:56] that property is probably within 400

[1:55:58] yards of this propos facility there are

[1:56:01] young couple that are getting married

[1:56:03] later this month planned on starting a

[1:56:05] family building a house and having the

[1:56:07] whole Spiel of being living and growing

[1:56:11] in cedra

[1:56:12] woy now we're looking at the possibility

[1:56:16] of if this plant goes through anything

[1:56:20] toxic or anything that happens they

[1:56:22] wouldn't want to live there and I used

[1:56:24] to have a a game with my kids called

[1:56:26] what if they would want to do something

[1:56:30] and I'd say okay but what if this

[1:56:31] happens is it worth it they always

[1:56:34] wanted to hold the Roman candles at

[1:56:38] Fourth of July and I said okay what if

[1:56:42] you Austin Who Wants To Be A baseball

[1:56:45] player blows off a finger or you Daniel

[1:56:48] that want as a musician blows off a

[1:56:51] finger well was it worth it what if and

[1:56:55] that's the what if here you say that the

[1:56:58] that it's not going to happen it

[1:57:00] shouldn't happen but what if it does is

[1:57:03] it worth it to these families to these

[1:57:06] farmlands to the

[1:57:08] people what

[1:57:10] if thank

[1:57:16] you ivy moer

[1:57:23] good evening thank you um my name is Ivy

[1:57:25] moer I do not live here as a full-time

[1:57:27] resident I am um Alan Cindy's

[1:57:30] grandaughter uh I do however my little

[1:57:32] brother and I do own a piece of land

[1:57:34] that is within three miles of where the

[1:57:36] battery station will be placed

[1:57:39] potentially um and I mean not

[1:57:44] withstanding obviously all of the

[1:57:46] environmental impacts um just the

[1:57:49] economic impact that it's going to have

[1:57:51] on People Like Us who have these

[1:57:53] Investments for us that we aren't going

[1:57:55] to get Social Security when we're older

[1:57:59] we're they've told us that we're not

[1:58:01] going to get benefits we need things

[1:58:03] right we can't we can't have things that

[1:58:06] are given to us thrown away that we need

[1:58:08] for our future because there's

[1:58:10] environmentally economically for me and

[1:58:13] my little brother there's going to be

[1:58:15] nothing and anyone we're very privileged

[1:58:18] anyone in this community who has

[1:58:20] something like that who doesn't have

[1:58:21] also any other external way of

[1:58:24] supporting themselves in the

[1:58:26] future they're what are they going to do

[1:58:28] you know what are what are people of my

[1:58:30] generation the younger generation is

[1:58:31] going to

[1:58:33] do thank you thank you

[1:58:38] I Peggy

[1:58:41] Syrian Peggy Syrian sign theer

[1:58:47] okay Isabelle Warner sign you okay

[1:58:58] uh zie is that

[1:59:04] right all

[1:59:06] right we're moving right through this

[1:59:08] list Scott

[1:59:17] Schuler good evening thank you for

[1:59:19] allowing me to speak uh my name is Scott

[1:59:21] Skyler I'm the policy rep for the upper

[1:59:24] gadet Indian tribe it's a pleasure to be

[1:59:26] here

[1:59:32] um I I wrote many of the uh concerns

[1:59:35] that the tribe has with this project

[1:59:37] down but uh everybody articulated them

[1:59:40] so well basically I have to just

[1:59:42] basically say that we're in concurrence

[1:59:43] with most of what was said here tonight

[1:59:45] um but I will share a little bit of our

[1:59:47] history here we've been working on the

[1:59:49] scad river Watershed uh recovery for the

[1:59:52] last 50 years uh We've invested millions

[1:59:55] of dollars on salmon recovery and and

[1:59:57] projects that we partnered with the

[1:59:59] County local communities various groups

[2:00:01] and we've done a phenomenal job working

[2:00:04] with folks on Hansen Creek for the last

[2:00:06] 40 years and the the system is

[2:00:08] recovering uh the salmon are coming back

[2:00:11] like many folks have said here it's

[2:00:12] utilized by many species of Wildlife and

[2:00:15] uh this is about risk assessment and

[2:00:18] risk assessment must be done by

[2:00:20] individuals here and the tribe looks at

[2:00:22] this project as there's no guarantees

[2:00:25] that there will be no environmental

[2:00:26] degreg down the road or no accident or

[2:00:29] anything that will adversely impact the

[2:00:31] progress we've made and so from our

[2:00:33] lands we look at it is there a benefit

[2:00:36] for the community very dubious at best

[2:00:38] after hearing what was got you what was

[2:00:40] said tonight is it beneficial to Salmon

[2:00:43] absolutely not is it beneficial to

[2:00:45] Wildlife absolutely not is it beneficial

[2:00:48] to our culture absolutely not so the

[2:00:50] list of positive things that could

[2:00:52] potentially be gained by moving forward

[2:00:53] with this project are virtually

[2:00:55] non-existent at this point and so the

[2:00:58] council will be working to develop a

[2:01:00] letter of opposition and to to send to

[2:01:02] the state of Washington and all the

[2:01:04] permitting agencies you know even though

[2:01:06] the per the project may have permit

[2:01:09] regulation compliance that does not

[2:01:11] avert the risk to the community and to

[2:01:14] the natural resources that are so

[2:01:16] important to everyone here so again

[2:01:17] thank you for your time thank you Scott

[2:01:33] minaa Dennis Allison

[2:01:37] okay Stephanie Estrada

[2:01:55] thank you for hearing what I have to say

[2:01:57] tonight I am Stephanie arrana um we live

[2:02:02] within probably 400 feet of the

[2:02:07] substation now you were talking about

[2:02:11] okay if there is an accident the

[2:02:14] toxicity that comes from that we have to

[2:02:18] evacuate a letter that we received

[2:02:21] within if you live within a mile you

[2:02:23] have three minutes to get out you can't

[2:02:27] get everything together in three minutes

[2:02:30] and we want to sell our home nobody's

[2:02:33] going to want to buy unless you want to

[2:02:35] buy and are you going to pay us what

[2:02:37] it's worth we I'm sorry I'm trying to be

[2:02:40] respectful but we don't want you

[2:02:43] here thank you all right thank you

[2:02:53] commissioner

[2:02:57] weon yeah thank you very much Ron we

[2:03:00] sketch County Commissioner I really

[2:03:01] appreciate all the great questions the

[2:03:02] council had tonight I think you did a

[2:03:03] very good job explaining the concerns

[2:03:05] that I've heard of the community and

[2:03:07] you've definitely voiced it very well I

[2:03:09] think want to comment a little bit on

[2:03:11] the aoi that the county staff had

[2:03:14] presented this had never been come to

[2:03:16] the County Commissioners to make any

[2:03:17] decision on um what the county staff did

[2:03:20] they had a preapp meeting and these are

[2:03:22] the things the steps you have to do to

[2:03:24] get this kind of project moving forward

[2:03:26] and the staff called it a major utility

[2:03:29] which have a hearing examiner um special

[2:03:32] use permit process and so that' have

[2:03:35] public comment and all these issues

[2:03:36] going forward so it's not that the

[2:03:38] County Commissioners voted to say yes

[2:03:40] you can move forward these are just the

[2:03:42] steps you would have to take before a

[2:03:44] permit would be issued at the county

[2:03:46] level um but because they're going to

[2:03:48] the fsac system my understanding the

[2:03:50] county has absolutely no say on what's

[2:03:52] going on because they're doing the

[2:03:53] regulations so forth and I think some of

[2:03:55] the good questions were brought up about

[2:03:57] the funding you spend $250

[2:03:59] million where's the payback on it

[2:04:02] obviously you buy low and you sell back

[2:04:05] high that's how the process works so

[2:04:08] somebody's going to make that extra

[2:04:09] money and I don't see any way except the

[2:04:12] rate payers are going to have to make

[2:04:13] that up but the other thing people need

[2:04:15] to realize the petown energy um they

[2:04:18] we've had some projects that they're

[2:04:19] trying to do up by the port of Gadget

[2:04:21] and the developers have been told that

[2:04:23] pound Indy is not able to guarantee the

[2:04:26] amount of power that those companies

[2:04:28] want to have in the future so there is

[2:04:31] definitely an issue with the Grid in our

[2:04:33] area here because of the the draw that

[2:04:36] is coming in and the grid is very

[2:04:38] complicated hook together but there's

[2:04:40] just so many substations where they can

[2:04:42] hook in um the County Commissioners came

[2:04:44] out with a letter talking about how we

[2:04:46] don't believe this is the proper site

[2:04:47] for this location and we definitely uh

[2:04:50] thank you very much for having the

[2:04:51] meeting here but we definitely County

[2:04:53] Commissioners do not believe this is a

[2:04:55] location we should do this so thank you

[2:04:57] thank you

[2:05:02] commissioner and that statement is on

[2:05:04] your website we we have all read it it's

[2:05:07] and it's also included in our packet so

[2:05:10] thank you very much powerful words we

[2:05:12] appreciate it um Kimberly osterhout

[2:05:31] um my first thought was if there happen

[2:05:33] to be a leakage we have within a small

[2:05:36] radius we've got Lyman all the way to

[2:05:39] our high school we have six schools of

[2:05:41] kids and with all of those kids if there

[2:05:44] is a leakage and they were in the

[2:05:46] schools the school the um bus drivers

[2:05:49] would have to get to the bus yard would

[2:05:51] have have to load all their stuff that

[2:05:53] they have to do drive to the school pick

[2:05:56] up the kids take them home then they

[2:05:58] have to go back for their second group

[2:06:00] of kids and do the same thing and my

[2:06:03] thought was how long is it going to take

[2:06:06] for you to take care of the toxins or if

[2:06:09] there's a fire for our poor kids so I

[2:06:12] was just thinking about the kids thank

[2:06:20] you uh Dwayne

[2:06:26] Gish all right fantastic thank you um

[2:06:31] Jean

[2:06:35] flurry

[2:06:37] no okay

[2:06:40] [Applause]

[2:06:46] okay I just wondered I just wondered one

[2:06:48] question about the safety of it

[2:06:52] if somebody drove by that thing and a

[2:06:56] high powerered rifle and shot

[2:06:59] it what what happens then I mean we have

[2:07:03] stuff like they they've attacked some of

[2:07:05] the power stations it's happened if

[2:07:07] somebody drove by one of those places

[2:07:08] and shot it does it does it catch fire

[2:07:13] that could take out the the HVAC system

[2:07:15] they could take out the response system

[2:07:18] Anything could happen so you know

[2:07:19] somebody some kids could get drunk and

[2:07:21] go by there and think it's fun to shoot

[2:07:22] the thing I mean what what could

[2:07:24] possibly happen there's and and I read

[2:07:28] one deal where they were talking about

[2:07:31] this company I believe it was their it

[2:07:32] was their company about they asked about

[2:07:34] the security about it and the security

[2:07:37] about it they said that they were going

[2:07:38] to put a six- foot Cyclone Fence and

[2:07:40] razor wire I mean that doesn't stop

[2:07:43] anybody from going in there and causing

[2:07:46] problems I just don't understand why

[2:07:47] there isn't more security involved

[2:07:49] besides the other problems that I see

[2:07:50] anyways that's all I wanted to ask these

[2:07:52] people about that all right thank

[2:07:59] you um Aaron spola am I saying that name

[2:08:03] correctly all

[2:08:07] right and then right below it is a

[2:08:10] kin and I can't make out the last name

[2:08:13] the spelling I

[2:08:15] apologize

[2:08:17] tools is there a kin in the house

[2:08:22] okay moving on uh to mateline

[2:08:31] Chandler I'm sorry Marilyn Chandler my

[2:08:34] apologies

[2:08:38] Marilyn um this is ironic um I'm sitting

[2:08:42] next to the chanders I've never met them

[2:08:44] we're not related so good way to meet

[2:08:47] your

[2:08:50] neighbors all I'm Marilyn Chandler and I

[2:08:53] have lived within one mile of the

[2:08:55] proposed minkler Road site for 39 years

[2:08:58] with my husband

[2:09:00] Gerald both sides of my family my

[2:09:03] mother's and father's side have

[2:09:05] Centennial Farms in Ceda woy that's over

[2:09:09] a hundred years and I also was born in

[2:09:13] cedy I express my opinion to oppose the

[2:09:17] project due to its close proximity to so

[2:09:20] many citizens I believe this project

[2:09:22] does not belong in a residential

[2:09:25] Community the proposed minkler Road site

[2:09:27] is not a good location for the battery

[2:09:30] energy storage system I feel it lacks

[2:09:33] concern for Public Safety after reading

[2:09:36] up on the possible failures and human

[2:09:39] risk of exposure to toxic chemicals due

[2:09:42] to a fire or thermal runaway they are

[2:09:44] not taking into account the need to

[2:09:46] evacuate so many people we must prevent

[2:09:50] this from occurring near our sensitive

[2:09:52] zones protecting our children and

[2:09:54] schools and

[2:09:56] neighborhoods our natural

[2:10:00] resources the future of Hansen Creek and

[2:10:03] depending on wind direction the

[2:10:05] possibility of contaminating Judy

[2:10:07] Reservoir which serves countless PUD

[2:10:10] customers I ask that you find a

[2:10:12] different location this is not the right

[2:10:15] place in the heart of our community the

[2:10:17] future quality of life for seedly

[2:10:19] residents could be in jeopardy

[2:10:22] a risk no one should be taking a gamble

[2:10:24] on I would hope that our generation

[2:10:27] could stand up and fight for this town

[2:10:30] with a hyphen just as those before us

[2:10:33] became famous for standing up against

[2:10:34] the nuclear power plant we need to fight

[2:10:37] again for Cedar woolly our future

[2:10:40] Generations depend on

[2:10:43] us thank

[2:10:46] you what I have gotten out of this

[2:10:49] meeting is how are they going to monitor

[2:10:52] in a snowstorm in 16 degrees when it's

[2:10:55] snowing sideways in in the middle of the

[2:10:58] night and the wind there was a windstorm

[2:11:01] once my husband is a firefighter that

[2:11:04] the the power poles on minkler road went

[2:11:08] over across the road and they were up

[2:11:10] for 24 hours with no sleep going to call

[2:11:14] after call after call so the

[2:11:18] wind we get a lot of bad wind storms and

[2:11:21] that's one problem so thank you all

[2:11:23] right thank

[2:11:28] you is it

[2:11:30] Riley flury is that correct

[2:11:38] [Music]

[2:11:40] yes can you hear me am I close

[2:11:44] enough first off I want to thank the uh

[2:11:46] Council for their questions uh you asked

[2:11:50] a lot of questions I think everyone here

[2:11:53] uh has been wanting to know so I thank

[2:11:55] you for that um again my name is Riley

[2:11:58] flurry um heard a lot of your concerns

[2:12:01] here voiced tonight and I I'm curious if

[2:12:05] the company um uh will be adhering to

[2:12:10] the will of the people or if they are

[2:12:12] just going to go ahead and do whatever

[2:12:14] they want despite our concerns they've

[2:12:16] already shown us that uh they don't care

[2:12:19] about following scet County land use

[2:12:22] policy they just want to go ahead and do

[2:12:25] it

[2:12:27] um but

[2:12:29] uh aside from that it it seems like

[2:12:31] we're being used as guinea pigs here and

[2:12:35] I don't really like that especially

[2:12:36] since we have all this precious Farmland

[2:12:38] that we need to

[2:12:41] protect and I I see no

[2:12:44] considerations uh from the

[2:12:46] company on uh other risks like

[2:12:50] earthquakes uh as some of you may know

[2:12:53] uh we have two at least two active fault

[2:12:55] lines that run right through scet County

[2:12:58] what uh happens when we have an

[2:12:59] earthquake and these things leak and

[2:13:01] they leak into our water table um I I

[2:13:04] just don't see

[2:13:06] the uh benefit of having four hours of

[2:13:09] extra power and then the offset of you

[2:13:12] know poisoning our water table I just

[2:13:14] that doesn't make any sense to

[2:13:16] me um so despite your claims of

[2:13:19] renewable energy and a cleaner

[2:13:21] environment it appears you're willing to

[2:13:23] risk irreparable damage uh to our local

[2:13:27] environment and

[2:13:28] ecosystems and while uh you guys go

[2:13:31] safely back to wherever it is you live

[2:13:35] uh SC the people of scad County are left

[2:13:37] with what I see as a ticking time bomb

[2:13:40] and uh that is threatening our land our

[2:13:43] water and our people so as a resident of

[2:13:46] scet County I demand that uh this

[2:13:49] company stop this Reckless project in

[2:13:53] our County and if you and Ensley want

[2:13:56] this so badly you can build it in your

[2:13:57] own

[2:14:00] backyards we do

[2:14:04] not we do not want it here and we do not

[2:14:07] consent thank

[2:14:11] you jennif

[2:14:13] [Applause]

[2:14:18] ribel jennif ribel

[2:14:24] okay okay thank

[2:14:30] you okay thanks Jenna Freel scadu

[2:14:33] drainage and irrigation Consortium uh I

[2:14:35] Echo everybody's concerns about

[2:14:37] overriding um County and cedra Wy policy

[2:14:40] land use policies there are um checks

[2:14:43] and balances even for state agencies and

[2:14:45] task force and the growth management act

[2:14:47] that would require the state and um the

[2:14:50] committee to consider fair and equally

[2:14:53] Farmland protection both at the state

[2:14:54] level and the local level and I would

[2:14:56] encourage you guys to pursue State

[2:14:58] authorities to protect Farmland also

[2:15:00] just to sort of come back to our uh the

[2:15:03] flood plane issues the sighting

[2:15:04] selection in the flood plane um is a

[2:15:07] poor poor decision as you guys know

[2:15:09] we've been negotiating safe levels of

[2:15:11] flood storage at Ross for four years

[2:15:13] we've made several presentations to the

[2:15:15] county as part of those negotiations

[2:15:18] state federal state federal and local

[2:15:20] tribal government ments have raised

[2:15:22] significant concerns that the the um

[2:15:25] additional flood storage would be used

[2:15:27] to encourage unwanted development and

[2:15:30] growth in our natural resources lands

[2:15:32] not just the critical areas the salmon

[2:15:35] streams but also the flood plane and the

[2:15:37] Farmland so um this is something we've

[2:15:40] heard loud and clear we've made numerous

[2:15:42] promises publicly that the purpose of

[2:15:44] the flood storage is to protect current

[2:15:47] development that's in the flood plane

[2:15:49] and absolutely not encourage growth

[2:15:52] thanks thank

[2:15:59] you zindra

[2:16:01] [Music]

[2:16:11] Nelson thank you mayor oh thank you

[2:16:13] mayor and Council for listening to us

[2:16:15] tonight um my name is zindra Nelson I'm

[2:16:17] a resident of skic County um I've raised

[2:16:19] um nine kids here part of them are still

[2:16:21] at home um I um I strongly oppose the

[2:16:26] battery plant going in into seizure wooy

[2:16:28] um I run a couple of programs or I help

[2:16:31] run a couple of programs homeschool

[2:16:33] programs that meet in seedar willly and

[2:16:35] I have kids that work here in seedar

[2:16:36] will and I'm concerned about the

[2:16:38] toxicity as well as evacuation um I had

[2:16:41] heard that you know there's like a three

[2:16:43] minute window to get out of the

[2:16:45] immediate

[2:16:46] Zone

[2:16:48] um where our homeschool Co-op meets is

[2:16:50] in insire Church um our home school cop

[2:16:53] is about 100 families we have 325 people

[2:16:58] in attendance there are 225 children on

[2:17:02] any given Friday during the school year

[2:17:04] that meet at this Co-op at inspired

[2:17:06] church and we are just down the road you

[2:17:08] know just down the road from the

[2:17:09] substation so um I'm concerned about

[2:17:13] evacuation and whether or not we'd need

[2:17:14] to shelter in place um you know so I'd

[2:17:17] consider us one of the an extra school

[2:17:19] that is in the if evacuation Zone um

[2:17:23] with that in mind you know we would need

[2:17:25] a sorry I'm nervous we would need

[2:17:29] appropriate emergency training for

[2:17:31] myself my leadership and all of the

[2:17:33] families that attend the assessment we

[2:17:36] would also need the assessment for

[2:17:37] appropriate emergency response equipment

[2:17:39] and supplies if the shelter in place is

[2:17:42] required um we do not have access to

[2:17:45] public funds we are homeschoolers so we

[2:17:47] don't have any of the um notifications

[2:17:50] or anything that comes normally that the

[2:17:53] school districts

[2:17:55] receive so um that would um cause extra

[2:17:59] Financial expenses on we don't really

[2:18:01] have the supplies the means we don't

[2:18:03] have the preparedness for that

[2:18:07] um so yeah we um If This Were to go into

[2:18:10] effect I would like our homeschool Co-op

[2:18:12] to be included in the emergency

[2:18:14] prepared preparedness plans and I expect

[2:18:18] that any Communications or

[2:18:19] accommodations that are made for Public

[2:18:21] Schools also be made for our home school

[2:18:23] Co-op which is called First Class Gadget

[2:18:26] County

[2:18:28] um I am concerned about evacuation I'm

[2:18:30] also concerned about toxicity um when

[2:18:33] you look at what the CDC says is you

[2:18:36] know with the hydrogen

[2:18:38] fluoride you know that if it gets moist

[2:18:41] wet if it rains the the acid rain aspect

[2:18:44] of things if it's you know they say that

[2:18:46] it's this type of battery or it won't be

[2:18:48] this they don't they haven't told us

[2:18:49] which kind of battery it is so don't

[2:18:51] know which version of toxicity it will

[2:18:53] be um but if you go to the cdc's website

[2:18:56] they talk about um if it gets in your

[2:19:00] eyes you'll go blind if you if it gets

[2:19:02] on your skin major burning and blisters

[2:19:05] um if it's internalized you can

[2:19:08] drown from your lungs being filled up

[2:19:11] with water so go to the cdc's website

[2:19:14] and look at the um the chemical stuff

[2:19:16] you'll find some really interesting

[2:19:17] information there anyway um I yield my

[2:19:20] whole three seconds of time thank

[2:19:27] you Edie

[2:19:35] bolra no Eddie Val

[2:19:44] Mullen Val Mullen from Cedar Wy I have a

[2:19:49] question for the council and for

[2:19:51] tanasa uh first of all if the if there's

[2:19:54] a potential fire would be restricted to

[2:19:57] one building why do you need to hose

[2:20:00] down adjacent buildings to keep them

[2:20:02] from getting

[2:20:04] hot and some of the research that I've

[2:20:06] done uh similar proposals in King County

[2:20:10] have uh stirred local opposition none of

[2:20:13] these projects have actually occurred

[2:20:15] within the ever Seattle or Tacoma area

[2:20:18] this project is the first time theany

[2:20:21] has applied to a state agency FC which

[2:20:24] can preempt local land use laws lithium

[2:20:28] batteries make may may be considered

[2:20:31] green energy but this is just a myth the

[2:20:34] mining the processing and disposing of

[2:20:36] lithium and Cobalt carry heavy

[2:20:39] environmental and human costs the

[2:20:42] extraction of lithium takes about 21

[2:20:44] million liters of water per day

[2:20:47] diverting it away from local Agriculture

[2:20:49] and community

[2:20:51] ities the mining process itself leads to

[2:20:54] soil contamination water and air

[2:20:56] pollution and destruction of

[2:20:58] ecosystems production of the batteries

[2:21:01] themselves requires heav heavy energy

[2:21:04] input most of that energy is being

[2:21:06] supplied by fossil

[2:21:08] fuels producing a lithium battery

[2:21:10] weighing 1100 lb for a car emits 70%

[2:21:15] more CO2 than producing a conventional

[2:21:18] car most Co VA mining occurs in the

[2:21:22] Congo where child labor and unsafe

[2:21:25] working practices are Rife it costs more

[2:21:29] to recycle the lithium battery than to

[2:21:32] mine more lithium so 95% of lithium

[2:21:35] batteries go to waste the list of

[2:21:39] stakeholders in the application includes

[2:21:42] the tribes the County Commissioners the

[2:21:44] port of scad County the landowner Puget

[2:21:48] Sound Energy and the state Department of

[2:21:52] archaeology curiously the stakeholders

[2:21:55] do not include the community that's

[2:21:58] affected by the project at the recent

[2:22:01] public hearing tanasa stated their

[2:22:03] intent to tweak the Project based on

[2:22:06] public input if they really wanted

[2:22:08] public input why not include the public

[2:22:11] as stakeholders in their original

[2:22:13] application thank you thank

[2:22:18] you Brad Anderson

[2:22:20] [Applause]

[2:22:38] well listen to this dude over here talk

[2:22:40] about

[2:22:41] safety with this particular thing is

[2:22:44] like listening to a Boeing exec tell me

[2:22:47] about where all the emergency doors are

[2:22:50] when the plane

[2:22:52] crashes but anyway what I'd like to

[2:22:55] speak I have a family member who is on

[2:22:58] one of the head boards for the Hanford

[2:23:01] nuclear

[2:23:02] plant and 30 years

[2:23:05] ago when I visit him over in

[2:23:09] Kenwick he was quite excited he had had

[2:23:13] 20 years worth of work on the

[2:23:16] books 20 years later I go over there and

[2:23:20] they've got 30 years work on the books

[2:23:23] all in the development of the

[2:23:25] containment of the

[2:23:28] uh uh

[2:23:30] waste so I'm sure what these guys must

[2:23:35] realize that technology

[2:23:39] advances and if the technology advances

[2:23:43] while you're building one of your

[2:23:45] plants do you stop and like they did

[2:23:49] over a hand which they're still every

[2:23:51] time they build something they have to

[2:23:54] tear it down and rebuild something else

[2:23:57] because technology has caught up with

[2:23:59] them do you guys plan to do the same

[2:24:03] type of procedure if you're granted the

[2:24:05] permits to operate in this County as a

[2:24:09] technology for your containment of your

[2:24:11] batteries

[2:24:12] progresses what do you do do you change

[2:24:15] it to come up to date or you just put it

[2:24:19] in there and say well we talk to you in

[2:24:21] 20

[2:24:22] years that's

[2:24:25] uh anyway yeah you can book it back to

[2:24:28] Oklahoma or

[2:24:30] whatever all

[2:24:33] right Brianna

[2:24:36] Zamora Brianna Zamora that's

[2:24:48] okay so I had to change my thing a

[2:24:51] little bit because I wanted to address

[2:24:52] one of the things that was said um

[2:24:54] before I go into my Spiel I wanted to

[2:24:56] bring up the comment that was made from

[2:24:58] over here about no best fire incidents

[2:25:02] in the last five years just a quick

[2:25:05] Google search and I found two

[2:25:06] independent studies done oh that was

[2:25:09] just really quick and best fires have

[2:25:12] trended steadily from 2020 just in 2023

[2:25:16] there was 15 per the study um I'll post

[2:25:19] the link with all the charts on the

[2:25:22] Facebook group for

[2:25:23] everybody um let's

[2:25:27] see so I've lived in scad County my

[2:25:30] entire life of 33 years I've been a CED

[2:25:33] woly resident for over 15 years I've

[2:25:36] worked construction locally in the

[2:25:38] laborers union for over a decade mostly

[2:25:40] in the oil and gas industry um

[2:25:44] particularly focused in OSHA industrial

[2:25:47] safety regulations and also on public

[2:25:50] projects like this gadg of river bridge

[2:25:52] collaps I'm an avid fisherman and

[2:25:55] Outdoorsman while simultaneously

[2:25:57] respecting and admiring all the wildlife

[2:26:00] as well as the environment all of my

[2:26:02] friends and neighbors Hunt and Gather

[2:26:04] their own food from the earth we all

[2:26:06] have Orchards or Gardens cattle chickens

[2:26:09] horses and various other plants and

[2:26:11] animals that we water from our

[2:26:14] wells um I'm wholeheartedly opposed to

[2:26:17] this project and just because some of

[2:26:19] mine and other union leaders have spoken

[2:26:22] in favor of the best project in the past

[2:26:25] here um as they will always do to

[2:26:27] support their wallets that does not mean

[2:26:30] it's the right thing this project will

[2:26:32] not significantly impact our union

[2:26:34] membership as a whole it will not create

[2:26:37] create local subst substantial jobs the

[2:26:40] project is temporary and after the

[2:26:42] facility is completely unmanned after

[2:26:45] completion um the facility itself will

[2:26:48] have a significant detrimental impact

[2:26:50] Upon Our Community just from basic

[2:26:52] day-to-day operations and Lord knows a

[2:26:55] flood which can easily happen since

[2:26:57] location is in a flood plane result in a

[2:27:00] catastrophic failure will impact our

[2:27:02] community and ecosystem for life

[2:27:05] especially Hansen's Creek which has been

[2:27:07] talked about a lot um and the gadget

[2:27:10] river which is the only Puget Sound

[2:27:12] river system with all five Pacific

[2:27:14] salmon species importantly the scad

[2:27:17] river has three salmonoid species listed

[2:27:19] as threatened under the endangered spe

[2:27:22] Species Act Bol trout steel head and the

[2:27:25] largest remaining runs of threatened

[2:27:28] puic sound shinuk salmon which are the

[2:27:30] key prey species for our endangered puic

[2:27:33] puit sound

[2:27:36] orcas I am a human being before I am my

[2:27:39] job title I will always put a human life

[2:27:41] my family safety in the community first

[2:27:45] before the size of my wallet I urge

[2:27:47] everyone involved to do the same thank

[2:27:49] you thank

[2:27:56] you Jennifer

[2:28:07] Washington first I'd like to say thank

[2:28:09] you to you mayor and the city council my

[2:28:11] name is Jennifer Washington and I'm the

[2:28:12] chairman of the uppers scet

[2:28:14] tribe Scott Skyler has already spoke um

[2:28:19] I concur with with a lot that has been

[2:28:21] said here and mainly I just wanted to

[2:28:24] come and say that the upper scad tribe

[2:28:28] stands with the city of Cesar

[2:28:34] woolly

[2:28:36] so I got several

[2:28:39] calls uh wondering why is the tribe

[2:28:42] standing by next to this we're not that

[2:28:45] was never said that was not not our

[2:28:48] intent we will be drafting a letter and

[2:28:51] we do stand with the community I'm born

[2:28:54] raised CED wooly we stand with you we're

[2:28:58] here we will fight we will do what we

[2:29:00] need to do and we are strong we are

[2:29:03] strong

[2:29:04] Community that's it thank you and have a

[2:29:06] wonderful evening thank you

[2:29:14] Jennifer Kevin dyra

[2:29:27] excuse me my name is Kevin dyra I'd like

[2:29:30] to thank you for very uh showing great

[2:29:32] decorum and respect in a hostile crowd I

[2:29:35] respectfully disagree with your proposal

[2:29:38] and council members uh there's such a

[2:29:40] thing as yielding my time I have a

[2:29:41] question what do we as Citizens do to

[2:29:43] stop this Andor what do we as Citizens

[2:29:45] do to support you in stopping this

[2:29:48] proposal thank you

[2:29:56] your very presence here today is very

[2:29:58] supportive I'm sorry your very presence

[2:30:01] here this evening is very

[2:30:04] supportive Connie

[2:30:12] Miller Madame mayor and City Council

[2:30:14] Members I wanted to First say thank you

[2:30:17] so much for being our voice tonight we

[2:30:20] have not as Citizens had an opportunity

[2:30:23] to ask these questions that you have

[2:30:25] asked on our behalf and you did a really

[2:30:28] outstanding job there were so many of

[2:30:30] the questions I've been concerned about

[2:30:33] and of course our community has been

[2:30:34] concerned about as well so we greatly

[2:30:37] appreciate that I also want to thank you

[2:30:39] for allowing us to be here in your study

[2:30:41] session during a public forum again it

[2:30:43] gives the community a voice and a way

[2:30:45] for us to be able to not only understand

[2:30:48] what's going on but for you to as well

[2:30:50] how passionately we all are concerned

[2:30:52] about this task um and I I want to

[2:30:55] reiterate just what the previous speaker

[2:30:57] had said um I would like to encourage

[2:31:00] each of you with your capacity as

[2:31:03] Community leaders and leaders here in

[2:31:05] Cedro wooly to see if there's a way that

[2:31:07] you can communicate with the folks

[2:31:09] you've been dealing with at Puget Sound

[2:31:11] Energy to see what is happening with the

[2:31:13] disparity of information that you've

[2:31:16] received in reporting directly from them

[2:31:18] about the grid versus what we're hearing

[2:31:20] from this uh organization here tonight I

[2:31:23] would be as a citizen very interested in

[2:31:25] the results of those questions that you

[2:31:28] might want to inquire with Puget Sound

[2:31:30] Energy and again I would also like to

[2:31:33] know if there's anything that you might

[2:31:34] recommend that we as Citizens do either

[2:31:36] through continuing to work with the city

[2:31:38] council or on our own to try to appeal

[2:31:41] to FC or whatever organization at the

[2:31:44] state level are really making the

[2:31:46] decisions that affect our local

[2:31:47] community if there's anything that you

[2:31:50] might have as a resource for us as you

[2:31:51] can see we are highly motivated and very

[2:31:54] passionate we would be very willing to

[2:31:56] cooperate with you on that behalf thank

[2:31:58] you thank

[2:32:05] you Daryl

[2:32:16] fuzel good

[2:32:17] evening my name is Daryl f I'm a retired

[2:32:20] CEO of a tech company I'm a resident of

[2:32:24] scet County and before I start I'd like

[2:32:27] to commend commissioner

[2:32:29] Browning where are

[2:32:32] you and commissioner weon for their

[2:32:37] stand publicly against this project also

[2:32:41] this

[2:32:42] Council this is very important I have a

[2:32:45] recommendation as a CEO I sat here and I

[2:32:48] listened to everything that's said

[2:32:50] I am EMP my empathy to this company over

[2:32:54] here is I know what it is to want to

[2:32:57] expand and go somewhere else and do

[2:32:59] something I do have a question that you

[2:33:02] don't have to answer but how many of

[2:33:04] these projects do you have in

[2:33:09] Nebraska I heard you say in the

[2:33:11] presentation whether I heard it wrong or

[2:33:13] not that the county set aside some

[2:33:17] property and then I heard commissioner

[2:33:19] we and commissioner brownie refute

[2:33:24] that I'll get back to that in just a

[2:33:26] moment I'm not going to use all of my

[2:33:28] three

[2:33:30] minutes as a CEO I would say that your

[2:33:34] environmental study was very weak I

[2:33:37] can't imagine anybody working for me

[2:33:41] presenting such a ill

[2:33:44] prepared

[2:33:47] presentation I can't imagine anybody in

[2:33:49] this room saying sign me up just doesn't

[2:33:53] it doesn't

[2:33:58] wash Riley spoke about earthquakes great

[2:34:03] Point nothing was said by you about the

[2:34:06] earthquakes but I have something to say

[2:34:09] for the fire

[2:34:10] departments how much money are you going

[2:34:13] to pay in advance to the fire department

[2:34:15] you heard that they're

[2:34:17] volunteer that you're going to use to

[2:34:19] prepare them in equipment not just

[2:34:23] education they don't need to sit through

[2:34:25] an hour's worth of seminar they're going

[2:34:27] to need money for equipment to fight

[2:34:31] whatever we don't know is

[2:34:34] coming that wasn't mentioned here

[2:34:37] tonight so you wouldn't get my vote is

[2:34:40] what I'm

[2:34:41] saying now everybody in this room

[2:34:44] remembers the national political move

[2:34:47] that was made

[2:34:49] let's just pass this so that we can see

[2:34:52] what's in

[2:34:54] it not in CED willly not in scet

[2:35:00] County we believe what Reagan said

[2:35:05] trust but

[2:35:10] verify I have two recommendations for

[2:35:13] everybody in this room but before I give

[2:35:16] that under the power of my

[2:35:19] constitutional right and Free Speech I'm

[2:35:22] going to ask a show of hands of

[2:35:24] everybody that's opposed to this project

[2:35:27] in scet

[2:35:28] County I only did that for you people

[2:35:31] over

[2:35:33] here here's my

[2:35:36] recommendation as County residents we

[2:35:39] don't know anybody in Olympia that we

[2:35:41] can get on the

[2:35:43] phone and say stop

[2:35:47] this we're not in favor of it

[2:35:51] but get a hold of your Council people

[2:35:54] not just tonight tomorrow and all the

[2:35:58] way till Friday and all next week and

[2:36:01] you've got two Commissioners in this

[2:36:03] room they if they don't know who to call

[2:36:05] in

[2:36:06] Olympia they know that they can call

[2:36:09] somebody that they can make your voice

[2:36:12] heard in Olympia talk to them they're

[2:36:18] here I heard over and over again tonight

[2:36:22] the same word over and over again so

[2:36:25] here's my recommendation to

[2:36:28] you the same word that I heard up here

[2:36:32] fight and I believe it this is a is it a

[2:36:46] Chris Parks and Jim kins is that right

[2:36:51] or is that a

[2:36:57] mistake if not that believe it or not

[2:37:00] concludes public comment

[2:37:06] yes

[2:37:11] sure I don't see anybody online thank

[2:37:14] you my name is Suzanne roner um I'm

[2:37:16] somewhat of an outsider I'm from anac

[2:37:18] Cordis but I'm here for you guys um just

[2:37:21] to um Echo what Val said earlier about

[2:37:24] um tanasa trying to do this in other

[2:37:27] places I a quick search online revealed

[2:37:29] that both Renton and Covington were

[2:37:31] approached for this so perhaps the city

[2:37:33] council can give them a call and find

[2:37:35] out their strategy for saying no to this

[2:37:38] um another thing about the 2,000 200,000

[2:37:42] homes for four hours that's the energy

[2:37:44] this will provide um and the assumption

[2:37:48] is that sket County will will benefit

[2:37:50] from this um in a true emergency it

[2:37:52] would go to hospitals and other

[2:37:54] emergency um areas but remember 2 years

[2:37:57] ago pet Sound Energy replaced every

[2:38:00] electrical meter in this County with a

[2:38:03] two-way system so that they can shut

[2:38:05] your energy off without even showing up

[2:38:07] at your home so if you if we think we're

[2:38:10] going to get some of that energy in a

[2:38:12] true emergency I think we're diluted um

[2:38:17] and then also the slide on the

[2:38:18] decommission of the the uh facility and

[2:38:23] quote current land use is preserved

[2:38:25] after the life of the project so since

[2:38:27] this is G egg NRL land my assumption is

[2:38:30] that land will be tractor ready ready to

[2:38:33] put seed in it when they're done with

[2:38:35] this project I'm hoping that's what they

[2:38:37] mean when they say it will be returned

[2:38:39] to the pre U present

[2:38:41] use um and then I just want to also

[2:38:44] mention I was at the uh first meeting

[2:38:47] and several people mentioned that they

[2:38:49] had no notice a very short notice and

[2:38:52] then after the meeting we were told if

[2:38:54] we wanted to make public comment that

[2:38:56] would be part of the record we had until

[2:38:58] I think 9:00 that night to do it and I

[2:39:00] thought that was a little bit um short

[2:39:03] notice and a little bit

[2:39:05] disingenuous and then the last thing

[2:39:07] where is that um after the last meeting

[2:39:10] I went and talked to one of the um

[2:39:12] presenters who's not here tonight but at

[2:39:16] that meeting they mentioned that since

[2:39:18] this is a major utility project there is

[2:39:22] a conditional use in the code for that

[2:39:26] and I went and approached that gentleman

[2:39:27] he was an older gentleman short in

[2:39:29] stature uh he was sitting on the right

[2:39:32] hand table as you look at at the uh

[2:39:35] Podium up there I can't remember his

[2:39:37] name but he I asked him where do I find

[2:39:39] that definition and he didn't tell me

[2:39:41] but he said that the Planning Commission

[2:39:45] suggested it be called or be determined

[2:39:48] to be a major utility project so it

[2:39:51] could have the conditional use

[2:39:53] exemption and so that I didn't that made

[2:39:57] me wonder what in the hell's going on um

[2:39:59] so I think it's something that I don't

[2:40:02] know I tried to figure out how to do

[2:40:03] something about it but I didn't know

[2:40:05] where to look so that's what I was told

[2:40:08] that the Planning Commission said this

[2:40:09] should be called a major utility project

[2:40:11] so they could use conditional use so for

[2:40:15] what it's worth thank you all right

[2:40:16] thank you

[2:40:24] yes can I have one minute sure thank you

[2:40:28] very much um give your name and my name

[2:40:31] is Bill Schmidt I'm with the sketa

[2:40:34] County Farm Bureau and we're very

[2:40:36] concerned about the Farmland but I

[2:40:38] didn't hear one thing all night and

[2:40:40] that's alternative rate of return we

[2:40:43] have a lot of water we have

[2:40:44] hydroelectric why can't we make our

[2:40:46] hydroelectric a little more efficient

[2:40:48] for this amount of money or why can't we

[2:40:50] put in another generator for the

[2:40:53] hydroelectric I had nobody talk about

[2:40:55] Alternatives here really and I think

[2:40:57] we're in a beautiful place for hydro

[2:40:59] thank you all right thank

[2:41:01] [Applause]

[2:41:08] you hi I'm me hall Port of Gadget and uh

[2:41:11] District three and we heard this

[2:41:13] presentation about six weeks ago and all

[2:41:15] three Commissioners at the Port of scadu

[2:41:17] are not in favor of this and we had a

[2:41:19] power meeting yesterday to discuss it

[2:41:21] even deeper and uh the position of PSC

[2:41:25] is a little wrong for what they

[2:41:26] presented to you it depends on which

[2:41:28] substation you're talking about there is

[2:41:30] a shortage of power in sket County it's

[2:41:31] just not in Cedar woolly yet so anyway

[2:41:34] but I just wanted to express I really

[2:41:36] appreciate Val mullen's presentation

[2:41:38] because uh many people don't consider

[2:41:40] the CO2 made over there is still CO2 we

[2:41:43] put up with over here and all those

[2:41:44] railroad cars that go by every day are

[2:41:46] going to China and they're making CO2

[2:41:49] and that's how these batteries are going

[2:41:50] to be made so anyway but just to let you

[2:41:52] know uh uh Porter Gadget is not in

[2:41:54] support of of this project thank

[2:42:00] you here is there anybody

[2:42:04] online that wishes to speak I thought I

[2:42:06] saw a Garrett Shad is that

[2:42:14] correct a guess a GG uh please state

[2:42:17] your name

[2:42:20] um Germaine corn oh hello

[2:42:23] Jermaine hi I'm sorry I couldn't change

[2:42:25] my name on there um I just had a

[2:42:27] question about or I don't know if anyone

[2:42:30] remembers it's basically a statement but

[2:42:32] I don't know if anyone

[2:42:34] remembers uh quite a few years ago when

[2:42:37] a teus bottling plant was trying to come

[2:42:40] into

[2:42:41] anoris and um it sounds like the same

[2:42:44] deal uh they tried Everett they tried

[2:42:47] many other town

[2:42:49] locally um for just a few jobs um they

[2:42:53] were going to put a train track across

[2:42:55] the

[2:42:56] Estuary it sounds exactly the same and I

[2:43:00] would I would encourage anyone to um

[2:43:02] start looking into that um we F that

[2:43:05] Sandra Spargo was the woman behind

[2:43:07] fighting that little old lady and we got

[2:43:10] behind her and I remember the these

[2:43:11] meetings and we organized and got them

[2:43:14] out of here along with former mayor Mike

[2:43:16] Anderson who walked in on uh Dean

[2:43:19] Maxwell signing something behind closed

[2:43:21] doors so I mean I really feel like this

[2:43:24] is the same kind

[2:43:27] of deal all over

[2:43:29] again but that history is there if we

[2:43:32] can just look into that and somebody

[2:43:34] else mentioned other things that that

[2:43:36] happen behind closed doors and like yeah

[2:43:39] so anyways I'm just saying this isn't

[2:43:40] the first time that we've seen

[2:43:43] this thank you and thank you guys so

[2:43:45] much for all these questions the

[2:43:46] questions were amazing

[2:43:49] thank you

[2:43:53] jine is there anybody

[2:43:57] else okay seeing no hands are

[2:44:02] raised that is it that will conclude um

[2:44:06] the public comment for the evening um I

[2:44:10] want to thank you all for being here

[2:44:11] tonight for your honesty for the support

[2:44:13] for the love not only the love of the

[2:44:15] city but for the love of our community

[2:44:18] and um just want to State again that

[2:44:20] this is you know this this isn't

[2:44:22] anything that uh we had brought forth we

[2:44:24] don't really have a say so in the the

[2:44:27] council doesn't have a say so in what

[2:44:31] any of these uh developers or um utility

[2:44:36] uh agencies would like to do but we can

[2:44:39] stand with you in writing the letters

[2:44:41] and we will we are going to do that that

[2:44:43] is Our intention um we're going to put

[2:44:45] together a letter and we're going to

[2:44:46] submit it just as the tribe is intending

[2:44:49] to do so thank you again so much for

[2:44:52] being here tonight and have a good

[2:44:53] evening safe

[2:44:57] evening okay and city council um I am

[2:45:01] getting ready to adjourn but just a

[2:45:02] reminder we do have a closed session and

[2:45:04] it won't take

[2:45:06] long are

[2:45:08] we all that oh my gosh I don't I think

[2:45:13] this would take way too

[2:45:14] long sorry

[2:45:19] take close yeah hello there I almost got

[2:45:23] up and spoke and then I thought

[2:45:24] everybody said everything yeah they did

[2:45:26] didn't

[2:45:30] they yeah they were weren't they

[2:45:36] yeah oh thank you thank

[2:45:46] you thank you yeah

[2:45:51] yeah they did well done well done

[2:46:01] yeah I know

[2:46:03] [Laughter]

[2:46:10] Judy

[2:46:12] okay thank

[2:46:14] you great

[2:46:17] names thank you thank you yeah

[2:46:21] absolutely I think it's great that the

[2:46:24] community is coming together like

[2:46:33] this as well hey I want to ask you I got

[2:46:36] your membership of course for screw so

[2:46:38] thank you um did you get a book the anti

[2:46:42] Communist Manifesto book okay I will

[2:46:46] we're doing that as a book club fabulous

[2:46:49] and everyone that signed up in 2024 gets

[2:46:51] one as a thank you so I'll make sure I

[2:46:54] have to order a couple more I'll make

[2:46:56] okay have my number I do I do thank you

[2:46:58] rile appreciate

[2:47:12] it I thought you did a great job not ask

[2:47:15] about the whole I think the whole thing

[2:47:19] to understand our

[2:47:22] in son

[2:47:42] ofct weely

[2:48:15] okay I'm going to say we are adjourned

[2:48:16] but we do have close session so we'll

[2:48:18] move to the back

[2:48:47] here

[2:49:17] e

[2:51:17] for

[2:51:47] e e

City Council Study Session

Transcript