Does Hagersville and Haldimand County truly need to be a site for battery energy storage systems (BESS)? Did you know that there are various battery energy storage systems meetings being held (without lots of lead time) to discuss Haldimand’s proposed sites for these storage systems? Why has this not been widely communicated to all of Hagersville and Haldimand County’s residents (via various forms of social media)? This will have a huge impact on our county and we should be deeply concerned about this.
Hagersville has already dealt with enough environmental tragedy with the tire fire. Now we want to expose our community to several risks such as potential explosions, fires, toxic gas plumes, environmental issues, contamination of local water sources/water well issues, and personal health risks. Fires at these types of facilities have already taken place in places like California, New York, and Arizona, etc.
Check out the website nfpa.org about the battery energy storage hazards and failure modes.
In addition, what are we doing, destroying our fertile agricultural land that grows the food that we need to feed ourselves and the cities around Canada and around the world? With farmland continuously being overtaken by various things (residential homes, solar panels, windmills, etc.) we will soon not be able to grow our own food. The battery facility is proposed to be on land for 20-25 years and then after that the soil and ground will be destroyed and you will not ever be able to use it to its full potential for agriculture.
Is the money that Haldimand County is proposed to get from this project truly worth the risk of our community’s health and safety and the potential risk of not being able to feed ourselves? A fast buck is not worth destroying this beautiful country that we live in or destroying our lives (health issues, contamination issues, community destroyed, agriculture land destroyed, etc.).
There have not been enough studies done to truly determine the impact this will have on the people, wildlife, soil, water, and the air that we breathe. Air and water are essential to our existence and now we want to destroy it to make fast money.
Last Friday, at Caledonia’s Virtual Meeting (for the proposed site off Greens Road between Mines Road and Seneca Onondaga Townline), Capstone stated they had NOT done any research as to what catastrophic situations have occurred in the past with these BESS. They have NOT done any geotechnical research on the sites they have proposed. Seriously… they are trying to sell something they really do NOT know anything about.
We don’t want this in our backyard! Do your research, look at all the other counties protesting against this.
If the contract companies think this is such a great idea, then let’s test pilot it in their backyard and then 5-10 years from now we will see if they truly think this was such a great idea.
We need to stand strong and protect our town, our community, and our farmland for future generations. No money is worth compromising or threatening the resources and ecosystem of Hagersville and Haldimand County.
Capstone is proposing to develop a battery energy storage system (BESS) along portions of Highway 6 between 1st and 3rd line and along Mud Road in Hagersville. Only the landowners that live on the edge of these properties received a registered letter from Capstone informing them of this proposal and of a virtual meeting where they are planning to explain their project.
Their virtual public community meeting for this project is scheduled for Monday, December 11, 2023 from 6-8 p.m. It is imperative that we, as a community, stand strong and log into this meeting at meadowsidebess.com.
You can send your questions and/or comments in advance to projects@capstoneinfra.com OR you can personally express your opinion during the virtual meeting.
We care about our community and we want to continue to keep it safe. We would greatly appreciate everyone’s support.
Ann P.,
Hagersville
