Vistra recently announced that it is pursuing state approval for its proposed battery plant, bypassing the city of Morro Bay, which has been reviewing the project since 2020.
After a City Council meeting on Sept. 24 that added a minimum of 18 months to the project’s timeline, the city received a notice from Vistra requesting the city to pause its municipal consideration of the energy company’s application.
According to Vistra’s Oct. 28 letter, the Texas-owned company is pursuing an opt-in certification from the California Energy Commission as established in AB 205, a bill passed in 2022 offering energy storage facilities a more streamlined process for project approval. If approved by the Energy Commission within 270 days, the project would then go to the California Coastal Commission.
Vistra told New Times by email that the decision was made because of the timeline extension and said that the state provides a more defined pathway for the project’s consideration.
“The uncertainty and ongoing delays in obtaining a decision regarding a permit to construct were impacting the planning for the project, including long lead time items and matters involving transmission,” the email read. “We continue to believe that building this new state-of-the-art energy storage facility to capture and better utilize excess renewable solar electricity is good for the community and the state of California’s reliability needs and clean energy goals.”
On the Morro Bay ballot this year is Measure A-24—an indirect effort to stop the battery plant at the local level. It proposes that voters should have the final say when it comes to what’s built on the old PG&E power plant site now owned by Vistra, as opposed to the City Council making the decision.
While Citizens Opposed to A-24 does not take a stance on the plant itself, the group has argued that the measure takes away the control of an informed City Council and had also hypothesized that Vistra would go to the state for approval anyway.
“You know, we hate to say, ‘I told you so,’ but what we’ve said all along is that passing A-24 would have no effect on the battery project, per se, because Vistra always could go to the state,” Citizens Opposed to A-24 Principal Officer Marlys McPherson told New Times. “I can understand why [Vistra] would not want to wait another year to see what the City Council does, but rather the process is going to take a year with the state so I can understand their decision.”
If anything, McPherson said Vistra’s decision has made the group’s stance even stronger.
“I think that now more than ever, it’s so important to vote no on A-24 because now what it means is that our City Council’s hands would be tied on any development project that comes forward to locate on the old power plant site, and you can’t take everything to a vote of the people,” she said.
Citizens for Estero Bay Preservation volunteer Norm Williams told New Times that the group, which placed A-24 on the ballot, doesn’t think the state will approve the battery plant and still believes that there must be more power to the people when it comes to that specific parcel of land.
“A-24 ensures local control. It doesn’t in any way undermine it. Now, the fact that Vistra went to try to circumvent the City Council and are going to try to go directly to the state, even before the citizens voted on A-24, in my opinion shows they’re running scared,” he said. “They know the citizens do not want that battery plant there, and they know that the citizens want to have a final say on this.”
Williams referenced a letter from the Coastal Commission on Aug. 2 that stated the location of the proposed Vistra battery plant could pose developmental constraints in an environmentally sensitive habitat area.
“What they’re saying is location, location, location,” Williams said. “If either the City Council or the citizens of Morro Bay, pursuant to A-24, reject the land use designation change to industrial, the [battery plant] project will be stopped at the local level. And so therefore, our position, if this ends up before the California Coastal Commission, this body will have heard the overwhelming voice of the people of Morro Bay.”
Even if the battery plant never gets approved, Williams said he is still voting yes on A-24 because he sees it as an insurance policy for any projects proposed in the future.
“We believe this is an important enough issue for the people to have a say. That’s all it is. I think it’s very democratic,” he said. “And I think local control prevents us from getting into a situation where we’re being influenced by outside corporations, large corporations coming in from out of state.” Δ
This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 10, 2024.