Residents press county on battery storage safety, data centers, ICE arrests and curbside recycling

A stream of public commenters at the Skagit County commissioners' meeting on May 19 pressed officials on safety, noise and transparency related to battery energy-storage projects and on broader local concerns including immigration enforcement and curbside recycling.

Ingrid Hinton of South Mount Vernon criticized a developer'commissioned sound study and warned about fire and health risks tied to large lithium batteries, citing a recent fire in Frederickstown, Missouri. Hinton also alleged — without documentation in the meeting record — that U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen owned shares in NextEra and asked commissioners to question potential conflicts. "If this is the level of accountability they demonstrate with issues related to a small battery project, imagine if there was a problem with the large scale lithium storage battery," Hinton said. The transcript contains the allegation but the county did not address or verify the claim during the meeting.

Kenneth Dunning spoke about larger concerns of co-locating data centers and storage facilities, warning that "a system in which the government wants to know everything about every citizen... [is] run by or ripe for tyranny," and urged commissioners to consider water use and privacy impacts associated with large facilities. Elke McCartney urged officials to "follow the money," warned about noise and wildlife impacts, and criticized energy companies building large storage units; McCartney also repeated an unverified claim about shares or payoffs by local elected officials.

Other comments included Rebecca Peck of Bow, who raised allegations that ICE officers have detained neighbors near the county justice center and asked about access to courts and the status of an audit of the public defender's office; she also asked the county for a planning budget showing funding for additional public defenders. Loretta Humble, participating online from Lake Kavanaugh, asked the county to prioritize curbside recycling and to help educate children about recycling. Many of the financial and stock-ownership allegations were raised by commenters and were not substantiated or addressed in the transcript.

The commissioners did not respond in detail to most of the allegations during the public-comment period; staff and commissioners noted the public comments and proceeded to other agenda items.