The Blendon Township Planning Commission comprises seven people. However, given that Commissioner Jordan Dekker is the landowner named in the impending battery energy storage system (BESS) proposal, he was “absent with notice” for the November 5 meeting.

The absence left six commissioners. The six were not elected by the residents but rather appointed by the Township Board. And that night those six people held the weight of the township. Before them was a decision that could redefine Blendon from rural farming community to township host of a lithium battery storage facility.

KCE Presentation

The public hearing opened with representatives of the applicant, Key Capture Energy (KCE), providing what they announced would be a 45-minute presentation. Brian Madigan, KCE’s Lead Project Developer, invited residents to “have an open mind” as they listened to why he believed the project is a “compatible use for the location.” The request was appropriate given that during his presentation at a previous meeting, outbursts from frustrated residents kept him from being able to share all that he'd intended.

Madigan explained how the VanBuren substation’s regional importance to the grid, along with the secluded nature of the project site, make Blendon an ideal location for this BESS. Another of the KCE representatives, Mike, shared that because the Township has interpreted that the zoning ordinance requires a 40-acre minimum, KCE was asking the Planning Commission to grant an exemption—since the proposed site plan is for a 15-acre parcel that will be split from a 40-acre parcel.

Mike assured the Planning Commission that granting the exemption would have no negative impact on surrounding properties, further interpretations of the ordinance, or on the township as a whole. He added the often-repeated ultimatum—if the exemption isn’t granted, KCE would need to bypass the Planning Commission and get the permits from the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), the state, though they preferred to permit locally if possible.

Next Joel Vyduna, KCE Executive VP Commercial and Technology, spoke, trying to cover the major public concerns he’d heard expressed in meetings and the media. He shared that the batteries are lithium-iron-phosphate batteries and, unlike the older lithium-ion batteries, contain no heavy metals. As for the location choice, he said that the VanBuren substation is in the top ten of the most congested and most important substations in the entire state of Michigan. There is an electrical need, and with proper siting, the project would help the community and the state, smoothing out the supply and demand needs which could otherwise lead to black and brownouts.

Addressing safety and fire concerns, Vyduna said that since 2018 battery failure rates have plummeted by 98%. BESS incidents are rare and becoming rarer. The incidents that have happened are overwhelmingly in old systems with outdated features. There are now robust codes and standards guidance for modern Bess systems that they’re required to follow.

In an unexpected move, the Chair interrupted the presentation and asked Vyduna to finish. Vyduna asked if he could have ten more minutes to wrap it up. “Make it five,” the Chair said.  

Vyduna breezed through the remaining concerns.
• Noise: effort was going into making the decibels lower than the requirement.
• Farm animals: all smoke is bad. Animals and people are affected the same way. In general, farms always should have emergency action plans. KCE is available to assist farmers in figuring out action plans.
• Severe storms: a BESS is not subject to severe storm risk.
• Raw materials/equipment supply: the batteries will come from a company in Canada, and the converters will come from a company in Spain.

Vyduna ran out of time and was unable to cover the remaining topics of jobs, property values and insurance, decommissioning, PA 233, and stormwater management.

“Why can’t he finish?” a few residents called out. “Let him finish.”

Attorney Weighs In

Next up was the Township attorney, Ron Redick. As the KCE representative, Mike, had mentioned, KCE was requesting an exemption to the 40-acre parcel requirement.  KCE would be leasing a portion of the property for its project, and—since the lease would be for more than a year—that would create a division under state law (the Land Division Act), putting the lot size under the minimum district requirement.

Redick explained that the Planning Commission has the authority to consider whether the site can be exempted from any dimensional requirements of the zoning limits. Since lot size is a dimensional requirement of the zoning ordinance, the Planning Commission has the threshold ability to determine whether it will grant an exemption. And if an exemption is granted, then a variance is not needed from the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA).

The exemption feature was added to the ordinance to give the Township the option of locally approving energy storage systems with somewhat higher standards than what the MPSC would require.

Once Redick finished, Township Planner Andrew Moore talked about going through KCE's submitted paperwork. “It is our opinion that this is a complete application.”

Commissioner Ben Van Zweden Daniel asked Redick for clarification regarding the Michigan Land Division Act. He asked if the Township would need to treat parcels as a division subject to both the Land Division Act and the Township’s Land Division Ordinance. And, if KCE were to go directly to the MPSC, would the MPSC have the authority to make divisions and to approve the project in a way that would essentially override the state law requirement because of the liberation of the lease?

As far as Redick understood, the MPSU would only apply the regulations in the ACT. He didn’t think the land division issue would apply—though, as of yet, it hadn’t been tested legally, and he wasn't certain how a court would rule.

With the presentation and legal ease somewhat concluded, the Chair mentioned he’d received 39 emails from residents regarding the proposal. Though he’d summed up the content of the emails for the commission, nothing was read to the public.

Residents Step up to the Mic

Many residents shared research contrary to what KCE had presented, insisting fires are not rare, the smoke and gasses are toxic, evacuations are common, and property values inevitably will drop. One person said it sounded like a lot has been learned about making things safer and better over the last ten to twelve years, but it was learned by failures. Another pointed to increased problems with BESS as outlined on the mi-safety.org site.

Some talked about how Blendon doesn’t experience black or brownouts. When there are power outages, they are a result of storms and fallen trees. Blendon has a water problem, not an electrical problem. One resident questioned how KCE will be able to monitor the facility since the WIFI is spotty in that area. Another wondered, “Who’s going to pay if my power bill goes up, KCE? The Commission?”

There were others who questioned how KCE could in one instance be saying the technology is new and the first of its kind while at the same time calling it safe. They wondered how KCE could know it’s safe when there are no long-term studies.

Another pointed out that the representative talked about when material leaks out of a battery it evaporates. “Well, that puts it in the air," she said. "That's a concern.” She also pointed out that the KCE representative said there'd be incidents and residents wouldn't know about them. “That’s a red flag to me," she said, adding, "Anybody that is not sure or has concerns, I'd bring these concerns to the Lord that we prayed to at the beginning, because He has the most power to stop this...”

Others talked about there being multiple communities fighting these proposals, and that the Planning Commission should not be bullied by PA 233 but instead should: “Fight this.” “Listen to us.” “Say no.”

Ottawa County Commissioners Allison Miedema and Sylvia Rhodea each took a turn at the mic. Miedema suggested the Planning Commission look into how many communities in our nation that have retained local control via state laws have approved these projects, and whether KCE has gone to states that have retained local control. Miedema added that KCE's timeline displayed no conversation with the Township until two plus years after a signed lease—which was problematic for two reasons. First, Michigan has a terrible law that stripped away local control apart from utilizing litigation to a very large degree. Second, as seen by the numbers at these meetings and the "Say no to BESS" signs in the community, the current laws can unnecessarily pit communities against their local representatives.

Chair Leathead responded that he hadn’t seen a lot of help from the County on this matter. He asked what the County was doing to pull back local control out of PA233. Miedema invited him to join conversations happening at the County. She also encouraged the Planning Commission to continue pushing back on KCE, asking why the company is so wanting to bully the Township into going against local control.

Commissioner Rhodea was concerned about the BESS risk factors for her own district of Allendale, including what it would look like to have to evacuate Grand Valley State University. She told of a meeting she’d attended where it was stated that this project would be meeting the energy needs of Detroit and Chicago. Rhodea said there's a lot of risk that Blendon and the greater community surrounding Blendon is taking on, and the benefit is for Detroit and Chicago. She encouraged the Planning Commission to stand against this.

“This is not okay," Rhodea said. “There's definitely a problem with the statute and it needs to be changed. I think everybody here should be getting loud. And we should be letting Gretchen Whitmer know that this isn’t okay.”

A woman shared that back in April, House Bill 4027 and 4028 passed the House of Representatives to overturn PA 233. And now the bill is just sitting there. She urged residents to write the senators that are on that committee, asking them to put it to the Senate for a vote. "Get noisy. Blow up their phones. Infiltrate their inboxes so they cannot ignore this." She added that the problem is that the committee is a five-person body—three are Democrats, two are Republican.

83-year-old Jerry Berghorst pushed his walker to the podium. “I've lived in Blendon all my life. I live 400 yards from where I was born… I appreciate when I go to your meetings and hear you people pray. And the Bible says, do unto others as you would have them do unto you… I would like you boys to think about if you’d like to live next door to one of those things, one of those batteries. When you pray and you ask the Lord for wisdom, I pray the Lord will give you wisdom.”

There were four public commenters who spoke in support of KCE. None of the four were residents of Blendon Township.

The last speaker told the Planning Commission that when it comes to evacuation for a BESS fire, the KCE representatives repeatedly say the evacuation zone would be about 150 to 300 feet. She said, “That is only if it stays contained. If that fire gets out of that thing that's only been tested for six months—not in the elements, only control tested—that is where the problems lie. They keep telling you, 'Oh, it's like 300 feet.' No, it's a mile and a half evacuation, five to eight miles, depending on the winds, embers, how bad the fire is… So let that sink in… They give you a sales pitch… I’m begging you guys, just go do your research like the rest of us have done. Your jaws will drop.”

A Vote to Table

The Chair closed the public hearing. The attention was brought back to the Planning Commission and whether a decision would be made to grant KCE the exemption to the 40-acre parcel requirement or if the members would “kick the can” to the ZBA.

The commissioners determined they were comfortable with making the decision but not until more of their questions for KCE were answered. They noted that if they were to send the decision to the ZBA, the high threshold of ZBA’s criteria would likely mean KCE would bypass the Township and go through the MPSC.

In the interim, as KCE fields the additional questions, Commissioner Ben Van Zweden asked if Attorney Redick could be looking into the two statues regarding land division, including perusing current lawsuits about PA 233 to see if the issue has been addressed.

A motion was made to table the vote to grant an exemption to KCE. The motion passed.

Next Planning Commission meeting: December 1.

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