The table continues to be a popular location for the Marshall County Plan Commission in regard to making a recommendation on battery storage systems in the county.
Once again, the Board tabled any action on their recommendation to the Marshall County Commissioners on an ordinance governing the facilities in the county.
The board opened a public hearing once again to hear from citizens on the subject and once again many of the same concerns that have surrounded the issue resurfaced. Setbacks, decommissioning of sites that were no longer active, and health and safety concerns from noise, fire, and other disasters.
Katie Lewallen came forward with a new concern and suggestion about safety for firefighters in the event of an incident at the facilities saying that she had a discussion with a man named Tom Abbott who was a Fire Chief in Arizona and a HAZMAT specialist who had been on the scene of an incident where firefighters were severely injured while fighting a battery storage facility failure.
Her question revolved around the current safety standards for the facilities outlined in National Fire Protection Association code 55. After her discussion with Abbott, she reported he felt the standards were too low and Abbott was currently working with the International Association of Firefighters to create more stringent standards and Lewallen felt there should be a subcommittee to look at the issue.
On the other side, James Hingston of Tenaska, the company hoping to build the facility repeated his concerns of the last several meetings, added that the facility would help local utilities decrease the amount of power they are currently purchasing in Canada, making it more affordable for local customers.
A pair of speakers, Brandon Schadek and Brian Johnson were involved in heated exchanges with the board on a different matter during the hearing on battery storage facilities, choosing to talk about an open door violation of the board.
After the public hearing, the board discussed how to proceed.
Board member Deb Johnson suggested making a subcommittee on the issue and made a motion to that effect, that died for lack of a second.
There was also discussion of extending the moratorium to study the issue further. They were advised by counsel Derek Jones that it would be considered a change to the current ordinance and would have to be advertised for another public meeting and to do so was a 60-90 day process and would have to be advertised and discussed at the next meeting in June. It would also involve approval by the Commissioners.
Eventually, the board voted to propose an extension of the moratorium on projects to October 2025 and set out a course of action that included looking at NFPA standards for safety and asking Abbott to speak to the board at a public meeting.
The Board was finally able to approve the minutes from their meeting in January with the inclusion of advice from “the public access counselors”.
The meeting minutes from February remained on the table since not enough members were present that were also present at that meeting. The minutes from April were also tabled for the same reason.
