President Donald Trump falsely claimed that climate change is a “hoax” while soliciting millions of dollars in campaign donations from oil and gas companies to finance his recent political comeback. To pay them back, Trump has repealed dozens of sensible, longstanding environmental regulations while dismantling virtually every federal policy aimed at curbing global warming.

Here in California, where a large majority of voters unequivocally acknowledge the scientific facts about global warming, we recognize that the ongoing burning of fossil fuels has pushed global temperatures to historic highs and drastically altered the world’s climate, causing more frequent and extreme weather events like heatwaves, droughts, floods, hurricanes and wildfires, all of which threaten human health, ecosystems and the economy.

We clearly understand that failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will have profound consequences for global food security, natural resources, international peace and stability and the very survival of humanity.

To address this existential problem, the state of California many years ago set a goal to achieve a carbon-neutral electrical grid in 2045 by commissioning multiple new renewable energy projects throughout the state. In 2023, solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal and other renewable energy facilities generated 61% of the state’s electrical power, and California is on track to produce 90% clean electricity by 2030.

But the successful conversion to a 100% clean energy electrical grid cannot occur without the concurrent construction of many new battery energy storage systems (BESS). Battery systems are essential in capturing excess solar energy during the day when the sun is shining for discharge to electrical customers at night.

Today, 187 such battery facilities are producing 13,400 megawatts of clean electricity in California while adding resiliency and reliability to regional power grids. Dozens of others are planned across the state, including here in Sonoma County.

Locally, two battery storage projects were proposed a few years ago near the region’s largest high-voltage electrical substation at the southeastern edge of Petaluma by the intersection of Frates and Adobe roads.

But after the applications were filed, a small but vocal group – driven principally by fear, distrust and misinformation – emerged in Petaluma to thwart the approval or construction of any battery storage facility in the area. To date, Citizens for Battery Transparency’s zealous opposition helped drive one company to withdraw its application.

The other, Terra-Gen, is dutifully completing an extensive environmental impact report (EIR) for its proposed 300-megawatt battery storage project to be located on the 17-acre site of the former Green String Farm across the street from the substation. The new plant would be capable of powering 300,000 homes for four hours during an emergency.

Opponents have employed standard fear-mongering tactics, predicting “a major catastrophe” could occur if the project is built near Petaluma. To make its case, the group has pointed to multiple fires that have occurred at the 750-megawatt battery storage plant in Moss Landing near Monterey. The giant plant, located inside a 1950s-era former gas-fired power plant, most recently went up in flames on Jan. 16, causing hundreds of people to evacuate while 80% of the lithium-ion batteries inside were destroyed.

But comparing what happened in Moss Landing to what could happen at a future battery plant near Petaluma is wildly misleading.

That’s according to retired Kern County Fire Captain and Assistant Fire Marshal Michael Nicholas, who in 2019 was tasked with creating the state’s first-ever comprehensive guideline package for permitting large-scale battery storage facilities, which was later adopted by the California State Fire Marshal and is now shared with other jurisdictions across the country.

Because Kern County had the highest concentration of renewable energy facilities in California, it also saw the concurrent emergence of evolving battery storage technology, which necessitated finding new ways to safely permit such facilities.

Today, Nicholas is a leading national consultant helping fire agencies and planning departments around the country adopt “best practices” for permitting battery storage plants.

The Moss Landing plant, Nicholas says, is a “legacy” indoor facility that came online one year before national and state fire codes were updated to more rigorously regulate the construction of battery storage plants. For that reason, its operational mishaps should not be compared to most current projects approved and operating under stricter regulatory and safety standards.