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Morro Bay moves forward with attempt to block battery storage facility

November 15, 2024

Artist rendering of proposed Morro Bay battery storage facility

By KAREN VELIE

The Morro Bay City Council on Tuesday voted 4-0 to direct staff to construct an urgency ordinance on a potential Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) project, with Councilwoman Jen Ford recusing herself. The council plans to vote on the proposed urgency ordinance in January.

An urgency ordinance would provide a temporary pause of up to two years on the processing of new BESS projects. During that time, the council can work on a permanent ordinance to block the controversial project.

Vistra, a Texas-based energy company, has plans to construct and operate a 600-megawatt battery storage facility on approximately 24 acres of a roughly 70-acre site. However, residents, concerned the facility will endanger the public while negatively impacting tourism and the fishing industry, pushed a local ballot initiative to stop Morro Bay from permitting the project.

Morro Bay, residents largely supported the measure requiring voter approval for changes to some zoning on the waterfront. Vistra Energy, the company behind a proposed 24 acre battery storage facility on the waterfront, decided to seek state approval while bypassing the city’s consideration shortly before the November election.

Even so, a large amount of the funding for the battery storage facility is slated to be provided through the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes $369 billion in subsidies for renewable energy.

“The Inflation Reduction Act is anticipated to provide the opportunity to realize material benefits to Vistra with respect to its renewables and energy storage projects, as well as provide strong price support via the nuclear production tax credit for its nuclear facilities, including those acquired through the Energy Harbor transaction,” Vistra said in a first quarter 2024 press release.

With Trump in office, it is anticipated he will ask Congress to reduce or eliminate tax credits provided through the Inflation Reduction Act. Without the subsidies and tax credits, it is unlikely Vistra will move forward with its plan for battery storage in Morro Bay.

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Central coast residents were totally onboard with 3 ugly smoke stacks and a giant power plant belching out pollutants, the risk of numerous oil wells both on and offshore causing massive oil spills, oil refineries that could catch fire and poison the air, not to mention a nearby nuclear power plant. They are all still fine with “Drill, baby, drill” apparently but a modern battery facility that emits zero pollution or noise is somehow a huge threat to our lives? Or more likely it’s part of the new Green Derangement Syndrome where any project that even hints at trying to conserve our natural God-given resources and protect the environment is somehow evil and must be opposed.


Well, the jokes on you Morro Bay, because those tax subsidies would have created lots of well paying local jobs, generated local sales tax revenue, and boosted the local economy, but you’d gladly throw that all away thanks to partisan talking points by fear-mongering power-hungry politicians.


-1

Help is only 90 days away, thank god.


Trump promised to ‘end’ offshore wind. What will that mean for California’s big bet?https://www.ksby.com/news/california-news/trump-promised-to-end-offshore-wind-what-will-that-mean-for-californias-big-bet


5

The state of California (and what a sad state we are in) which includes Gavin and the idiot progressives occupying the elected and non elected positions in state government continue to govern against the will of the people. The majority of citizens in Morro Bay voted against the battery plant yet the State has established a law that gives the state legal authority to ignore the will of the people. Anybody see a problem with that? The same applies to the wind farm project. The state intends on shoving this down our throats the same way. The majority of people are opposed to this as well. The people , that’s us folks, need to stop this nonsense now!! The departments and the agencies, whose job it is to protect the seas, have let us all down they aim to please, the offshore wind farm companies. Get off your asses!


0

The Trump victory will place a cap on battery storage and offshore wind projects… this plan just might be over already…


7

While the rest of the world goes flying past us we are attempting to turn back the clock on all progress. Cabinet picks that will destroy their respective agencies thru either incompetence or outright hostility against the department they are supposed to be running.


-16

Hopefully they will start by pruning those departments so that they can run more efficiently. Hopefully some of those unnecessary agencies will be destroyed.


9

The City of Morro Bay should write a letter to Trump, and others in Washington who have the power to do so, asking that the applicable tax credits in the IRA be removed. Putting a huge battery storage facility in the middle of Morro Bay is a disaster waiting to happen. Just look at the Otay Mesa fire that broke out at that lithium-ion battery facility. Took days and days to put out while it spewed out all sorts of toxic material.


46

The city of Morro Bay should publish a map of all the poorly maintained household battery packs in the city, including all the teslas that burn so well.


Same map could show the huge natural gas pipe line that runs through the city, that most don’t even know it’s there, can you count the Btu’s?.


Everyone is in far more danger from teslas on the roads, next door in a wooden garage, as opposed to a current standard stationary battery pack in a code compliant building under full time monitoring.


trump has also pledged to reduce environmental protections, so forget the wind/batteries we can put a 10 story hotel on the power plant property, the embarcadero will require more starbucks and such.


-37

You’re comparing an orange to a thousand semi trucks filled with apples. Go watch the videos of BESS plants burning for weeks at a time, pouring out toxic fumes, you obviously don’t live in Morro Bay.


47

Yeah, Trump’s a real environmental savor, right? Did you forget his promise to massively increase oil drilling and pipelines nationwide and roll back environmental regulations? Sure, you won’t have to worry about a battery plant fire, but instead you’ll have to worry about toxic oil spills, pipeline explosions, and cancer causing pollution. Sorry but I’d rather have the battery plant, since at least that will reduce our reliance on dirty sources of power


-1

Like so many of my fellow Americans I prefer the dirty, reliable, cost effective sources of power.


0