McBroom Family Being Sued to Stop Battery Facility
Earlier this summer the group FayCoSaysNo launched a legal defense fund to protect landowners from what they argue are harmful green energy projects in Fayette County. The first lawsuit in that fight was filed last Friday.
Five property owners in Warda, Jim Clements, Guadalupe Gutierrez, Cynthia Gutierrez, Mark Heater, and Carolyn Lehmann, filed a suit in the 155th District Court against the McBroom family. The plaintiffs seek a permanent injunction to stop the construction of a battery energy storage system (BESS) on the McBroom property in Warda, unless they submit a hazard plan approved by the court.
Flatonia attorney Alex Hernandez represents the plaintiffs. Hernandez assisted FayCoSaysNo with setting up the legal defense fund. Hernandez told the Record that he is offering his services to the plaintiffs pro bono. FayCoSaysNo will help the plaintiffs with costs, he said.
The plaintiffs’ original petition states their concern about fire or explosions that could result from a thermal runaway within the lithium ion batteries housed on the McBroom property.
“Similar to how mass gunpowder storage can be an actionable private nuisance in Texas, so too can the BESS, since it causes a ‘constant source of apprehension and alarm,’” the petition stated, citing several relevant Texas court cases.
The petition went on to state that the McBrooms “breached their duty of care, owed to Plaintiffs, when Defendants signed a lease permitting the BESS on Defendants’ property. A reasonable person in Fayette County would not have done so, considering that there is presently no hazard plan in place to address the BESS and the known hazards it will bring.”
One of the defendants is Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom. Earlier this year, the company that leased the McBroom property, Staccato Storage, filed an application for a property tax abatement with the Fayette County Commissioners Court. Mc-Broom recused himself from all Commissioners Court proceedings involving the tax abatement. The Commissioners Court eventually rejected the tax abatement.
The Record attempted to contact Jason McBroom over the weekend for comment, but he has not responded.
The lawsuit petition cited several cases of thermal runaway events involving lithium ion batteries. It also mentioned the recent decision by the City of Katy to deny a permit for a BESS facility.
BESS projects take power off the electric grid and store it in batteries.
They release the power back to the grid during times of high demand, providing a power buffer that improves grid reliability.
The plaintiffs allege that the battery storage facility constitutes a “negligent private nuisance” that poses “imminent harm” to them and their property.
They are asking the District Court to issue a temporary injunction stopping the construction of the facility while the lawsuit is pending. So far, the Court has not taken action.