San Diego County and developers of a solar and battery storage project in East County are facing a lawsuit alleging the project's environmental review was insufficient.
The suit was filed in San Diego Superior Court last week. It focuses on the Starlight Solar project near the town of Boulevard. The county Board of Supervisors approved a major use permit for the development for last month.
The 588-acre project, which includes a solar farm and a 868 megawatt-hour battery energy storage system, has faced community pushback.
The suit, filed Oct. 15 by a group calling itself the Back Country Community Alliance for Responsible Development, was brought under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
“This is CEQA action brought under the California Environmental Quality Act. And what we're alleging is that the Environmental Impact Report that was prepared and certified by the county was inadequate,” said Jamie Hall, the group’s attorney.
The lawsuit seeks to suspend all activity on the project “pending full compliance with CEQA and with the requirements of law.”
A major concern the suit raises is the potential for lithium-battery fires.
“My client doesn’t believe the county adequately analyzed those impacts, they didn't analyze the evacuation routes sufficiently, they didn't assess whether there was enough water for this particular project,” Hall said.
Boulevard residents previously told KPBS they are concerned about the proximity of the battery storage containers to homes and a school.
Fires producing toxic gas have broken out at battery storage facilities in Otay Mesa and Escondido in recent years.
“We don't think we’ll have a fire and if we do we have enough safeguards in place,” said Jim Whalen, the Starlight Solar project's land use consultant.
Whalen went on to say that the lawsuit lacks merit.
“I don't think the lawsuit has any merit, number one. We will be addressing the allegations going forward. We're going to try and see if we can settle,” he said.
He pointed out that projects like Starlight Solar help meet state and county green-energy mandates.
“The county has to approve renewable energy projects at scale, that's a given. ‘Where do they go,' is the only question. We think we've done the best job fitting a large project into an area with the least number of people being affected,” Whalen said.
A county spokesperson would not comment, citing the pending litigation.
