Neighbors Against Battery Storage Site Appeal Lawsuit
The group of neighbors suing to stop a battery energy storage system (BESS) in Warda are appealing their lawsuit.
On May 15, plaintiffs Jim Clements, Guadalupe Gutierrez, Cynthia Gutierrez, and Carolyn Lehmann filed a notice stating their wish to appeal their lawsuit against the McBroom family. The plaintiffs had sued the McBroom family to stop them from leasing a portion of their property in Warda to a company interested in building a BESS facility.
In their original lawsuit, the plaintiffs claimed such a facility posed a hazard to their properties. They raised concerns about possible fires, explosions or pollution from hazardous chemicals.
BESS facilities take electricity off the power grid during times of low demand, store the power in batteries, and then release the power during times of high demand. They help to stabilize the supply of electricity on the grid. BESS facilities often use lithium ion batteries, which in rare cases can suffer catastrophic failure leading to fire or explosion.
BESS facilities are usually located next to a high voltage electrical substation, since they need to connect to electric grid. The McBroom property lies next to an electrical substation in Warda. The plaintiffs own property nearby.
The defendants, who include Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom along with his siblings and their spouses, had signed an option agreement with Staccato Storage LLC to possibly lease some of their property for the construction of a BESS facility. Last year, Staccato Storage petitioned the Fayette County Commissioners Court for a tax abatement, which the Court ultimately rejected. But the tax abatement application generated quite a bit of public attention.
The group FayCoSaysNo, which initially organized to oppose a wind energy project in southern Fayette County, hosted a town hall meeting in Warda last August. At that meeting, local property owners raised concerns about hazards related to lithium ion batteries, which are commonly used in BESS facilities. They discussed thermal runaway events, difficultto- put-out fires and the possible release of toxic chemicals.
The plaintiffs, represented by Flatonia attorney Alex Hernandez, filed a lawsuit in Fayette County District Court last November seeking an injunction to stop the lease of the property. They argued that a BESS facility posed a nuisance to the enjoyment of their property. District Judge Jeff Steinhauser recused himself from the case. The Honorable Todd A. Blomerth, Senior Judge of the 421st Judicial District, was assigned to preside over the lawsuit. In a court filing dated March 10, attorneys for the McBrooms, Greg Wehrer and Gregory Djordjevic, argued that the plaintiffs had no legal basis to sue because they had not suffered any actual harm. Judge Blomerth ruled in favor of the defendants. He dismissed the lawsuit and ordered the plaintiffs to pay the Mc-Brooms’ legal fees. Now the case heads to the appeals court. According to court documents in the Third Court of Appeals, the plaintiffs have until May 27 to submit filing fees and paperwork from the original lawsuit. After that, they’ll have 30 days to file a brief arguing their case.