Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's a battery energy storage system. As you mentioned, they
call it best. The reporter just said, uh, it's it's
a it's a rural area, it's farm a lot of farmland,
and it's an area that's going to become industrial. Think
about the chemicals and things used inside of that system.
Bev Horing is with us here now. She's been at
(00:21):
the forefront of this, reached out a while back, and
I'm glad we can finally get you on dev to
tell the story. I know you're trying to shine a
light on this so that folks understand what's going on.
Welcome on, appreciate you taking the time to be here
with us this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well thank you. Justin you you.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
All are in the middle of a fight that same
same sort of issue. I think people are finding themselves
in at different places. They don't really get in a
lot of ways. I think before the attention that they
deserve in these fights. A lot of times these things
just they sort of seem to get railroaded or ram
rotted in and they they really don't get a choice
(00:58):
in the matter. But in recent years people have decided
to stand up and you guys are in there, tell
us what about this system that's coming in that you're fighting,
why you don't like it, and the process of how
it's played out so far.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, basically the potential dangers that it has is what
concerns us. Like you said, we are a farm rich
area in therefore, if anything should happen, which many of
already had fires, the thermal runoff fire is very toxic.
(01:35):
The land around that is damaged from the toxins will
never be usable again. And unfortunately with our farm, our
land completely surrounds right where the battery farm is going
to be going into.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So what would power the batteries? Is this regular coal
fired plants that are going to produce the energy to
fire this? Is it solar? Is it wind? Do they
talk about that? And why do they need batteries?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, they say that wind and solar are not going
to be in their electrical pull it. So my assumption
is it's all coming from our coal plant. They're going
to pull the electric off the line, stored into the
lithium ion batteries, and when the need is high, they
(02:36):
will release it.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I don't understand why they can't just produce like they
always have. This seems like there's a solutionaire without a problem.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well, our governor is trying to shut down the Cambo plant.
So that's why we're starting to see all this solar
and wind farms coming up into play here.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah, I understand that, and I understand that they've been working.
By the way, that's the same reason why our bills
keep going up too.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Well, that's true.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
There's a story out of Ohio today and I don't
know if you saw this. Well, we talk about this
a little bit later on coming up in tech Talk
this morning with their good friend Trent Kennebby Affordable Ice Store.
But in Ohio there's a bill out there. Lawmakers are
trying to put it together to allow utility companies to
limit your energy usage. So, in other words, if we
(03:37):
get a peak time and they need to pull more
energy for you know, manufacturing or something that they deem
as a higher priority than you in your in your home,
they'd be able to do that, which which is wild
to me. But with the meters and everything else that
they have these days, and of course this story, it
sort of lines up that they might want to do this,
(03:58):
and I guess we'll probably forgetting the elephant in the room,
which is all the data facilities and the AI eventually
that they're going to try and get up to speed
and running. That's going to probably be more drained than
you or I and any of us running our big
screen TV in a refrigerator or anything else in the
house with the air conditioner. At the same time, even
(04:20):
if we're plugging our tessels in, we're still not going
to be the type of drain that that they're going
to be. So I understand that they're looking for different
ways to do things in this day and age. But
in your situation, you say not my backyard, No.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Definitely not. Farmland is being attacked here in Michigan. In
West Michigan, very farm Rich just north of US is
three hundred acres that they're looking at to do an
AI data center. Well, that's probably part of the reason
why they want to put in a battery farm here,
(05:00):
because they do drain the area town and cause brownout. Now,
West Michigan we don't deal with brownout, but yet they
think we're going to. So there's got to be a
correlation between all the solar farms, wind farms, and the
data centers going in that they're looking at us to
(05:20):
hold electricity, you know, And maybe.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
The saddest part of this is that none of this
should have ever been a problem in the first place.
The wind solar and pardon my French, but I call
a wind solar and unicorn farts. Oh, that's what they're
pushing on all of us, all this sort of pie
in the sky, fantastical technology that that I don't think
(05:46):
really isn't is improven to do any sort of good
for anyone just yet, and I don't know that it
ever will except for drain our pockets. And then I
think the other issue is they talk about affordable and reliable. Well,
I don't think this technology is either one. As you
just mentioned the brownouts. That's the quiet part they're saying
(06:07):
out I guess outloud.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Now, Michigan is the worst place for solar and wind,
and so we need to keep our Campbell plant coal.
We need to look at nuclear, that's where our electricity
comes from. We're not going to be able to produce
enough to do much of anything with Michigan's.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Weather one of the things. And BEV Harge is with
us right now. They're looking at a battery storage it's
called Bess Facility there near right next to the farm.
She's on Blended Township there in Ottawa County, and residents
are standing up and finding this. We've heard from a
number of folks have reached out and said please talk
(06:50):
about this and bev You've got a Facebook community where
people are sharing not just the word on this, but
some things that are happening throughout the state. Well. But this,
this has come to the forefront, this particular, this particular subject.
You're even hearing from people. I noticed that Joe Moss
(07:10):
has come out as an Otawa County commissioner with a
strong statement against us. Have you heard from any elected
officials on this? You mentioned, you know that this is
starting to kind of pick up speed.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
We've contacted a few different of our local ones. We
have not heard a whole lot back from them, just
that they're looking into it. So at this time, we
do have Joe Moss behind us, we have Brendan Muhir
behind us, and they are big helps in the push
to oppose the battery farm.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
And again, for you all, this is not just an
environmental issue, but it's it's an issue of what happens
to the legacy of the farm and what will you
be able to do if there is a problem, there
are there leaks often. Do you have any background the
research on how this plays out and what it looks
like when these facilities go bad.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Here's the interesting thing. KCEE is a very young company
and the battery containers that they want to put here
as of yet have not been in production in operation.
I've looked into it a little bit more. There are
different states that are going to be using them, but
(08:34):
right at this point they're only UL tested and therefore
they have no true testing other than the UL testing
on what's going to happen with these after youth and
most if you look at them at four years, that's
when they start having the problems. And the interesting thing
(08:55):
is kce in their application, holds the rights to at
four years sell off the rights to another company. So
therefore they can keep themselves clean by selling off before
the problems start.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
And I can't imagine that the that the life on
these things is is that is that long? Bev Will
you come back? I want to definitely continue to have
this conversation with you. Maybe we can speak off the
line here in a little bit as well, but will
you come back with more information about this and as
you all continue to try and get the word out,
I'd love to have you do that. But also what
(09:36):
can people do if they hear this and they want
to help support you all?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Right now, well, we could use prayers. Right now September fifteenth,
we have a board meeting and the board has announced
that the application has been received and will then go
on to the Planning Committee. So we do need prayers.
I'm looking for people to email, to call and oppose,
(10:03):
let the board know, the township know that we do
not need to become industrialized here. We want to stay
the farming community that we are. At this point, we're
just getting ready to set up for donations. We have
not gotten that far yet. We're in the process right
now of doing that.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
We will will make sure that we keep people apprized
of this and acid prayers, anything else that you'd like
for people to know or anywhere.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
You want them to go, Well, if you're in the
township or the neighboring townships that will be also affected
by any thing that happens with those battery containers, please
show up to the planning committee meeting that's in October,
but also September. We really need you to show up
(10:56):
in to show that your opposing this to the board
meeting on September fifteen, seven pm.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Now, we'll make sure we put this information links to
the stories as well online in our stack today, daf
Horrega as the folks here in Blennon Township, Ottawa County
fight to oppose what would be a battery battery energy
storage system there. They say they have real concerns about
Thank you so much for taking a time, BEV. We
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Oh, thank you, Justin. I appreciate it too.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Absolutely pray for you guys, and we'll continue to keep
folks up there and here so stories come through. Tech
talk more on this subjects back after this and we
check our bond. The hours hang on, lots of questions
about this battery plan. I'm gonna put the story on
the stack today at Justin Barclay dot com so you
can check it out.
It's a battery energy storage system. As you mentioned, they
call it best. The reporter just said, uh, it's it's
a it's a rural area, it's farm a lot of farmland,
and it's an area that's going to become industrial. Think
about the chemicals and things used inside of that system.
Bev Horing is with us here now. She's been at
(00:21):
the forefront of this, reached out a while back, and
I'm glad we can finally get you on dev to
tell the story. I know you're trying to shine a
light on this so that folks understand what's going on.
Welcome on, appreciate you taking the time to be here
with us this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well thank you. Justin you you.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
All are in the middle of a fight that same
same sort of issue. I think people are finding themselves
in at different places. They don't really get in a
lot of ways. I think before the attention that they
deserve in these fights. A lot of times these things
just they sort of seem to get railroaded or ram
rotted in and they they really don't get a choice
(00:58):
in the matter. But in recent years people have decided
to stand up and you guys are in there, tell
us what about this system that's coming in that you're fighting,
why you don't like it, and the process of how
it's played out so far.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, basically the potential dangers that it has is what
concerns us. Like you said, we are a farm rich
area in therefore, if anything should happen, which many of
already had fires, the thermal runoff fire is very toxic.
(01:35):
The land around that is damaged from the toxins will
never be usable again. And unfortunately with our farm, our
land completely surrounds right where the battery farm is going
to be going into.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So what would power the batteries? Is this regular coal
fired plants that are going to produce the energy to
fire this? Is it solar? Is it wind? Do they
talk about that? And why do they need batteries?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, they say that wind and solar are not going
to be in their electrical pull it. So my assumption
is it's all coming from our coal plant. They're going
to pull the electric off the line, stored into the
lithium ion batteries, and when the need is high, they
(02:36):
will release it.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I don't understand why they can't just produce like they
always have. This seems like there's a solutionaire without a problem.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well, our governor is trying to shut down the Cambo plant.
So that's why we're starting to see all this solar
and wind farms coming up into play here.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah, I understand that, and I understand that they've been working.
By the way, that's the same reason why our bills
keep going up too.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Well, that's true.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
There's a story out of Ohio today and I don't
know if you saw this. Well, we talk about this
a little bit later on coming up in tech Talk
this morning with their good friend Trent Kennebby Affordable Ice Store.
But in Ohio there's a bill out there. Lawmakers are
trying to put it together to allow utility companies to
limit your energy usage. So, in other words, if we
(03:37):
get a peak time and they need to pull more
energy for you know, manufacturing or something that they deem
as a higher priority than you in your in your home,
they'd be able to do that, which which is wild
to me. But with the meters and everything else that
they have these days, and of course this story, it
sort of lines up that they might want to do this,
(03:58):
and I guess we'll probably forgetting the elephant in the room,
which is all the data facilities and the AI eventually
that they're going to try and get up to speed
and running. That's going to probably be more drained than
you or I and any of us running our big
screen TV in a refrigerator or anything else in the
house with the air conditioner. At the same time, even
(04:20):
if we're plugging our tessels in, we're still not going
to be the type of drain that that they're going
to be. So I understand that they're looking for different
ways to do things in this day and age. But
in your situation, you say not my backyard, No.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Definitely not. Farmland is being attacked here in Michigan. In
West Michigan, very farm Rich just north of US is
three hundred acres that they're looking at to do an
AI data center. Well, that's probably part of the reason
why they want to put in a battery farm here,
(05:00):
because they do drain the area town and cause brownout. Now,
West Michigan we don't deal with brownout, but yet they
think we're going to. So there's got to be a
correlation between all the solar farms, wind farms, and the
data centers going in that they're looking at us to
(05:20):
hold electricity, you know, And maybe.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
The saddest part of this is that none of this
should have ever been a problem in the first place.
The wind solar and pardon my French, but I call
a wind solar and unicorn farts. Oh, that's what they're
pushing on all of us, all this sort of pie
in the sky, fantastical technology that that I don't think
(05:46):
really isn't is improven to do any sort of good
for anyone just yet, and I don't know that it
ever will except for drain our pockets. And then I
think the other issue is they talk about affordable and reliable. Well,
I don't think this technology is either one. As you
just mentioned the brownouts. That's the quiet part they're saying
(06:07):
out I guess outloud.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Now, Michigan is the worst place for solar and wind,
and so we need to keep our Campbell plant coal.
We need to look at nuclear, that's where our electricity
comes from. We're not going to be able to produce
enough to do much of anything with Michigan's.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Weather one of the things. And BEV Harge is with
us right now. They're looking at a battery storage it's
called Bess Facility there near right next to the farm.
She's on Blended Township there in Ottawa County, and residents
are standing up and finding this. We've heard from a
number of folks have reached out and said please talk
(06:50):
about this and bev You've got a Facebook community where
people are sharing not just the word on this, but
some things that are happening throughout the state. Well. But this,
this has come to the forefront, this particular, this particular subject.
You're even hearing from people. I noticed that Joe Moss
(07:10):
has come out as an Otawa County commissioner with a
strong statement against us. Have you heard from any elected
officials on this? You mentioned, you know that this is
starting to kind of pick up speed.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
We've contacted a few different of our local ones. We
have not heard a whole lot back from them, just
that they're looking into it. So at this time, we
do have Joe Moss behind us, we have Brendan Muhir
behind us, and they are big helps in the push
to oppose the battery farm.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
And again, for you all, this is not just an
environmental issue, but it's it's an issue of what happens
to the legacy of the farm and what will you
be able to do if there is a problem, there
are there leaks often. Do you have any background the
research on how this plays out and what it looks
like when these facilities go bad.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Here's the interesting thing. KCEE is a very young company
and the battery containers that they want to put here
as of yet have not been in production in operation.
I've looked into it a little bit more. There are
different states that are going to be using them, but
(08:34):
right at this point they're only UL tested and therefore
they have no true testing other than the UL testing
on what's going to happen with these after youth and
most if you look at them at four years, that's
when they start having the problems. And the interesting thing
(08:55):
is kce in their application, holds the rights to at
four years sell off the rights to another company. So
therefore they can keep themselves clean by selling off before
the problems start.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
And I can't imagine that the that the life on
these things is is that is that long? Bev Will
you come back? I want to definitely continue to have
this conversation with you. Maybe we can speak off the
line here in a little bit as well, but will
you come back with more information about this and as
you all continue to try and get the word out,
I'd love to have you do that. But also what
(09:36):
can people do if they hear this and they want
to help support you all?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Right now, well, we could use prayers. Right now September fifteenth,
we have a board meeting and the board has announced
that the application has been received and will then go
on to the Planning Committee. So we do need prayers.
I'm looking for people to email, to call and oppose,
(10:03):
let the board know, the township know that we do
not need to become industrialized here. We want to stay
the farming community that we are. At this point, we're
just getting ready to set up for donations. We have
not gotten that far yet. We're in the process right
now of doing that.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
We will will make sure that we keep people apprized
of this and acid prayers, anything else that you'd like
for people to know or anywhere.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
You want them to go, Well, if you're in the
township or the neighboring townships that will be also affected
by any thing that happens with those battery containers, please
show up to the planning committee meeting that's in October,
but also September. We really need you to show up
(10:56):
in to show that your opposing this to the board
meeting on September fifteen, seven pm.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Now, we'll make sure we put this information links to
the stories as well online in our stack today, daf
Horrega as the folks here in Blennon Township, Ottawa County
fight to oppose what would be a battery battery energy
storage system there. They say they have real concerns about
Thank you so much for taking a time, BEV. We
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Oh, thank you, Justin. I appreciate it too.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Absolutely pray for you guys, and we'll continue to keep
folks up there and here so stories come through. Tech
talk more on this subjects back after this and we
check our bond. The hours hang on, lots of questions
about this battery plan. I'm gonna put the story on
the stack today at Justin Barclay dot com so you
can check it out.
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