Get Involved

SUBMIT YOUR OPPOSITION TO THE DRAFT BESS ORDINANCE NOW!

Making a difference starts with action. Here’s how you can join us in protecting our community and ensuring our voices are heard.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD – YOUR VOICE MATTERS!

Make your voice heard and join the fight to protect our community. There are several ways you can take action to oppose the proposed BESS project:

1. SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT ONLINE

Write an opposition statement to the County Board of Supervisors'

Draft BESS Ordinance.

Scroll down for directions on how to upload your comment.

SUBMIT NOW

The Draft BESS Ordinance as it is written presents a current and immediate threat to the public's safety and welfare. This "updated" Draft Ordinance is still missing over 30 specific safety regulations and standards that need to be in the BESS Ordinance to protect our families, homes, neighborhoods, farmlands and natural habitats.

SC COUNTY BESS ORDINANCE WEBPAGE

Please consider using the following TEMPLATE for your letter's opening paragraph:

The approval of use permits, building permits or other entitlements for utility-scale BESS without the necessary specific safety regulations and standards in place in a BESS zoning ordinance presents a current and immediate threat to the public’s safety and welfare. Santa Cruz County’s current draft of the Energy Storage Combining District Ordinance, despite a few updates, is still missing many specific standards and does not contain strong enough compliance measures to protect the public and our environment. The BESS Ordinance in its current draft form endangers the public, exposing people to unacceptable health and safety risks. Please do NOT approve the Draft BESS Ordinance “in concept” or at all until these strong compliance measures to protect public health and welfare are incorporated.

WE URGE YOU TO PLEASE SPEAK and/or WRITE ABOUT THE FOLLOWING CRITICAL ISSUES –

1) Do not allow these battery energy projects on agricultural land at all. [BESS Ordinance]

Require an independent, free of developer influence soil analysis of the 90 Minto Road property to confirm that the land is valuable farmland.

[New Leaf Energy BESS project at 90 Minto Road]

2. Do not allow lithium battery technology in BESS. [BESS Ordinance]

(Alternative, but less restrictive.) Require incentives for non-flammable, non-lithium battery technology. [BESS Ordinance]

3) Require at least a 1000' setback from all residential property boundaries. Residential neighborhoods need to be included in the list of

sensitive receptors identified in the Draft Ordinance as requiring a 1,000' setback. [BESS Ordinance]

4) Large scale fire testing (LSFT) must be included in the BESS Ordinance, regardless of whether it will be required in the 2026 NFPA standards.

[BESS Ordinance]

5) A plume study of a worst-case scenario where all or most of the 250+ containers of lithium batteries burn must be included in the BESS

Ordinance. [BESS Ordinance]

6) Setbacks to residential property lines must be linked to the results of a worst-case scenario plume study and reflect the application of the

safest Acute Exposure Guideline Level (AEGL) of 1. [BESS Ordinance]

7) Require an independent, free of developer influence earthquake hazard and liquefaction analysis. [BESS Ordinance]

8) Require a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for any proposed battery energy project, separate from the Draft BESS Ordinance, as would

be required by the California Energy Commission (CEC) if the developer chose to apply directly to the State instead of to the County. [EIR

procedure]

9) Require separate and full Environmental Impact Reports for the Draft BESS Ordinance and for New Leaf Energy's proposed 90 Minto Road lithium BESS project and not a combined, single EIR for both that is also a shortened, supplemental version. [EIR procedure]

10) Require the 30-day scoping period for public comment at the beginning of the EIR in response to New Leaf Energy's Initial Study, which would

allow the public to submit comments identifying areas of concern and respect CEQA's mandate to open the environmental review to public

participation as much as possible. [EIR procedure]

11) Require Environmental Justice issues to be included in the scope of the environmental review. [EIR eliminating categories]

12) Hold town hall meetings in Watsonville during the evenings with large signs on major roadways for notice. [EIR eliminating categories]

Directions for uploading comments to the County Board of Supervisors Meetings