Residents urge moratorium on battery storage projects and request ordinance pause; commissioners hear court and procedural concerns

Several residents and local advocates used the county’s March 3 public comment period to urge commissioners to pause or prohibit permitting of lithium battery energy storage systems (BESS) and to raise broader constitutional and procedural concerns.

Alcacilar McCartney of Anacortes urged the commission to "completely stop, and at the very least support a moratorium on lithium battery energy storage systems anywhere in this county," calling such installations "unmanned, toxic, flammable boxes" and arguing they are not the right response to climate change for the county’s agricultural region.

Ingrid Hinton of Mount Vernon, speaking for Stewards of Skagit, asked commissioners to "act as the voted representatives that they are, not to take direction from an unelected attorney," and cited an email she said came from the commissioner's lawyer about a pending BESS appeal in the Bayview Ridge area. She urged the board not to let off‑agenda correspondence influence decision-making and asked that commissioners avoid engaging privately with individuals who send such materials.

Laura Stansbury Weese, visiting from California, described experience with a similar industrial installation she said caused harms and suggested that new information could justify reconsidering prior approvals.

Civil‑rights advocates Monica Cook and Peter Zaremba raised constitutional and court-related allegations, contending county-funded systems contribute to what they described as rights violations in the courts and asking the board to consider withholding county support for agencies they said enable unlawful practices. Cook said she would serve affidavits alleging conspiracy by judges and stated, "Our children are not for sale."

Connie Crier, president of Stewards of Skagit and an industrial-environmental safety professional, thanked the board for pursuing a grant to craft a clean-energy ordinance and asked that the county implement a temporary pause on permitting new clean-energy projects until codes and an ordinance are complete. She cited codes adopted in Thurston and Pierce counties and said local code language could be used as templates.

Commissioners acknowledged the comments. One commissioner said meetings with developers (named in the transcript as Goldeneye) have not satisfied resident concerns about water and runoff and that many residents oppose the project. Staff or commissioners did not announce a formal moratorium or new directive during the meeting.

The board took the comments under advisement; no formal action on BESS permitting or a pause was recorded in the meeting minutes provided on the record.