ATA BESS ALERT!
Check this page frequently for BESS Activity Alerts – what Los Angeles County and BESS developers are up to, and how the Acton Community and Supporters can counter their surreptitious efforts.
ATTENTION ACTON-AGUA DULCE COMMUNITY — IMPORTANT NOTICE!
ACTON CEC BESS MEETING ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2026
Acton Takes Action | February 15, 2026 – On February 14, Ruthie Brock, Chair of the Acton Takes Action Community Task Force (ATA), posted the following CEC SCOPING MEETING NOTICE on Next Door and Facebook regarding the Prairie Song BESS Project planned for East Acton. THAT MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2026 at the Acton-Agua Dulce Library from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm!
PLEASE READ THE FULL DETAILS BELOW AND SAVE THE DATE! WE NEED EVERYONE TO SHOW UP AND COMMENT!
WELL EVERYBODY — WE HAVE A DATE FOR OUR PRAIRIE SONG BESS CEC SCOPING MEETING!
The CEC just posted the meeting notice in the docket and the date is set for TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2026, from 3pm to 8pm in our ACTON-AGUA DULCE LIBRARY! This will be a HYBRID meeting: in-person and by ZOOM. The Library's address is: 33792 Crown Valley Rd. Acton, CA 93510.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO? I need you all to either SHOW UP, be ONLINE using ZOOM, or CALL IN sometime during the hours of 3pm to 8pm to provide comments to the CEC. Let them know how you feel about this HUGE PRAIRIE SONG BESS Project wanting to develop in our community!
The PRAIRIE SONG BESS will be the LARGEST BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE PROJECT IN THE NATION – and possibly in the world! At 1,150 Megawatts (MW), the Prairie Song will be nearly 30% larger than the 821MW Edwards-Sanborn in Mojave, currently the largest BESS in the United States.
HOW LONG WILL YOU HAVE TO COMMENT? We will each have only TWO MINUTES to speak, so we want your comments to be as impactful as possible! Make sure you can read your comment in the 2 minutes allotted and please consider writing out your comment on a piece of paper (if possible) and include your name as well. This is so that when you're finished speaking, you can hand your comment in to the CEC to ensure they transcribe it accurately into the official record of the proceedings.
WHAT SHOULD YOU SAY? Because time is limited, please briefly state your name and perhaps how long you've been an Acton resident if you'd like. Then briefly state your personal situation if you wish, letting them know if you have children in your home, if you have large animals that will require trailering during an evacuation, if you are near the project, if you are dependent on well water etc. This will help them better understand your personal situation and how this project will impact you.
THIS IS IMPORTANT! Because a "scoping meeting" is focused on the potential impacts that will be caused by this project, I’m hoping you will spend the majority of your two minutes talking about how the Prairie Song BESS will IMPACT YOU!
Below are the IMPACT categories as defined in the CA Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
- AIR QUALITY
- BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES
- CLIMATE CHANGE/GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
- CULTURAL/ TRIBAL CULTURAL RESOURCES
- EFFICIENCY/ENERGY RESOURCES
- GEOLOGY/PALEONTOLOGY/ MINERALS
- HAZARDS/HAZARDOUS MATERIALS & WASTE/WILDFIRE
- LAND USE/AGRICULTURE
- NOISE and VIBRATION
- PUBLIC HEALTH
- SOCIOECONOMICS
- SOLID WASTE
- TRANSMISSION LINE SAFETY & NUISANCE
- TRANSPORTATION
- VISUAL RESOURCES
- WATER RESOURCES
- ALTERNATIVES ANALYSIS
Next... I will mention how these impacts translate to our community and will include the number of the IMPACTS category each one falls under in parentheses. Example: "I’m afraid my house will be unsellable!" (#11) – This comment falls under #11 = SOCIOECONOMIC. If you’d like to mention the IMPACT CATEGORY that your comment falls under, this would be helpful but not necessary.
Following are a few reasons how the Prairie Song BESS might impact you...
- Potential wildfire risk because its in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (#7)
- Potential toxic exposure during a battery fire (#10)
- Potential evacuation during a battery fire incident particularly for those without secondary access (#7)
- Known health and safety risks of Lithium-ion batteries, including LFP (#7, #10)
- Concerns of the large volume of water that would be needed during a battery fire (#16)
- Concerns over depleting our Waterworks District 37 during a prolonged fire response (#16)
- Concerns over depleting or contaminating groundwater (if you are on a well near project) (#16)
- Concerns regarding disturbing soil that may contain Valley Fever spores (#10)
- Concerns regarding disturbing a Significant Ecological Area (#2)
- Concerns regarding disturbing human remains in potential Indian burial sites (#4)
- Concerns regarding noise from the BESS project (if you live near the BESS) (#9)
- Concerns regarding the character of our rural community being industrialized (#8)
- Concerns regarding A-1 and A-2 zoned property being used for industrial purpose (#8)
- Concerns regarding a potential shut down of the 14 Fwy and Metro Rail during a fire incident (#14)
- Concerns regarding truck traffic and dust during construction (#1, #10, #14)
- Concerns regarding noise during construction (#9)
- Concerns regarding visual impacts this mile long BESS will have on a mapped scenic view (#15)
- Concerns regarding your home becoming difficult to sell if you live in proximity to project (#11)
- Concerns regarding reduced property value if you live in proximity to project (#11)
- Concerns of being able to obtain homeowner/fire insurance due to elevated fire risk (#11)
- Concerns of sky-high insurance premiums due to the elevated fire risk (#11)
These are impacts that will affect so many of us. Please comment on those which will likely affect you and your family. You won't have time to comment on them all so choose the impacts most important to you.
I cannot overstate how important it is that you all make an effort to comment at this meeting. We are a small community of 7,500 people but we need to make a LARGE impression!
If you cannot attend on TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, to comment in-person, by ZOOM or by calling in... there will be an additional online-only meeting which will be scheduled to give you another opportunity to provide your comments.
A special call out to FIREFIGHTERS If you are an active duty or retired firefighter, please hone in on the fire safety of this project such as the difficulty in suppressing a battery fire, the toxicity of Lithium Ion batteries, etc. You are Subject Matter Experts and your comments will be accorded more weight!
PLEASE EVERYONE, PLAN ON ATTENDING TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2026, AT 3:00 PM TO STAND UP FOR ACTON! (Remember to wear your "Don't BESS With Acton" t-shirts, or a black t-shirt to show your solidarity... Thank You!)
HERE IS THE LINK TO THE CEC NOTICE (Full Notice, PDF, Download) for this meeting, which includes the ZOOM access link, and how to access the meeting by phone, and more: https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/GetDocument.aspx?tn=268645&DocumentContentId=105799
FOR OUR EASY-TO-DOWNLOAD & PRINT 1 PAGE MEETING NOTICE PDF, which includes the ZOOM access link, and how to access the meeting by phone: CLICK HERE.