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Residents urge pause on battery storage project over fire, health and evacuation concerns
Summary
Multiple residents urged Skagit County commissioners to halt a proposed battery energy storage system, raising questions about thermal runaway, firefighting capacity, toxic plumes, and whether state-level review processes remove local control; speakers called for moratoriums and clearer emergency plans.
Several residents used the public-comment period to press the county about a proposed battery energy storage facility in Skagit County, raising safety, health and governance concerns.
Elka McCartney of Anacortes said she had submitted multiple earlier comments and focused on fire prevention and emergency response. "What plan does the storage system company and the county have for the likelihood of a thermal runaway prevent this catastrophe," she asked, adding questions about local fire districts' ability to extinguish such fires and how residents would evacuate if a major route such as Highway 20 were blocked. McCartney told commissioners: "I suggest that a full stop on this installation is the answer we need right now, as well as a county and statewide moratorium on these facilities." She cited experience with a facility fire in California as a cautionary example.
Kenneth Downing of Mount Vernon echoed safety concerns and focused on the decision-making process. Downing said the proposal has generated controversy and argued that some decisions affecting Skagit County are being shifted to state entities. "It is my understanding it is also opposed by the tribes in the county," he said, and he warned that placing decisions with the Washington State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) and the governor would remove authority from local elected officials.
No county staff provided a detailed technical response on firefighting protocols or evacuation planning during the public-comment period recorded in the transcript. Commissioners listened as multiple residents urged the board to press for stronger safeguards or a halt to the project, but the transcript does not record a formal county action on the proposal during this meeting.
