To the Editor:
Following the recent information session by Neoen and, as surrounding neighbours of the proposed NEOEN battery storage facility site, the following concerns have been raised.
Fire Risk and Emergency Response: Large-scale lithium-ion BESS installations carry the inherent risk of “thermal runaway,” a chain-reaction fire that can reach temperatures exceeding 1,000°C. These fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish and often reignite. Lithium-ion battery fires require specialized suppression tactics, immense volumes of water,
and advanced hazardous material training. There is a severe concern regarding the capacity of local emergency services to manage a specialized lithium-battery incident: our local volunteer firefighters are neither equipped nor adequately trained to handle a massive industrial chemical fire. Standard firefighting methods are ineffective for BESS fires and our
local fire departments are not equipped to handle the specialized hazardous materials response required for a catastrophe of this scale. A thermal runaway event at this facility could easily burn out of control, threatening adjacent properties and beyond and strain our emergency services beyond their capacity.
Violation of Agricultural Policy Mandates: The Bruce County Official Plan establishes “Agriculture” as a core guiding principle, with a clear directive to protect and conserve prime agricultural land for future generations. The proposed BESS facility—an industrial installation requiring the permanent levelling and sterilization of more than twenty acres—directly contradicts this primary mandate. Converting viable farmland into a permanent industrial footprint is a failure to uphold the County’s own stated commitment to preserving our finite agricultural assets.
The Myth of a “Temporary” Project: the community is aware that this project is proposed under a twenty-year lease agreement. We want to be clear: a 20-year industrial lease is not a “temporary” use of land. It represents a generation of lost agricultural productivity and a permanent alteration of the rural landscape. Given the extensive concrete foundations, site levelling, and soil compaction required, this land will effectively be removed from the agricultural pool for the foreseeable future, if not permanently.
Contamination Risks to Groundwater & Aquifers: The site preparation involves massive grading that threatens to permanently alter the hydrology of the aquifer feeding surrounding properties. Furthermore, in the event of a fire, the “firewater” used for suppression—which becomes heavily contaminated with toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and
electrolytes—could breach containment, infiltrating our shallow wells and poisoning our primary source of drinking water.
Species at Risk and Local Wildlife: The proposed site cuts directly into habitats utilized by regional wildlife and Species at Risk. The physical footprint, paired with industrial noise and light pollution, will fragment critical migratory corridors and push vulnerable avian and terrestrial species out of their established habitats. The continuous low-frequency noise
generated by cooling systems and inverters will create persistent industrial noise pollution.
Light Pollution: Continuous 24/7 security lighting will disrupt the natural behaviours of nocturnal wildlife and severely impact migratory birds that rely on dark skies for navigation.
Noise and Pollution: Industrial cooling systems and continuous inverter hum create persistent low-frequency noise. This acoustic pollution induces chronic stress in livestock, disrupting feeding, breeding, and overall health.
Bees and Pollinators: The electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and potential chemical emissions from a facility of this scale can disorient pollinators, threatening crop yields and regional biodiversity.
Infringement on Future Development Rights and Setback Encroachment: We formally object to any project footprint or associated safety hazard zone that would restrict what adjacent landowners can do with their own property. The approval of this BESS facility must not impose any new municipal setbacks, noise contours, or safety-related building
restrictions that overlap onto neighbouring parcels. We must retain the unrestricted right to build future residences, agricultural structures, or outbuildings at any desired location within our own property lines. The developer must be required to contain all hazard, fire, and noise buffers strictly within their own leased boundaries, ensuring our future
property development rights are not impeded, sterilized, or dictated by their industrial operation.
Minimal Job Opportunities for the Community: Monitoring of the system will be completed remotely and by existent staff of NEOEN, thus not creating job opportunities for the community.
Risks of Industrial Path Dependency and “Use-Creep”: We are adamantly opposed to this project, in part, because it creates a “turn-key” industrial site that inevitably invites further, more intensive industrial development. Once twenty acres of prime farmland is leveled, graded, and serviced with the massive high-voltage grid connections required for a BESS, the site becomes an ideal, ready-made location for subsequent industrial uses—most notably data centers. Energy analysts are currently identifying BESS sites as the primary target for “co-location” with AI-driven data centers, as these sites effectively solve the two biggest hurdles for data center developers: securing land and obtaining highcapacity grid interconnections. By approving this BESS facility, the County is not just approving a battery array; it is creating the infrastructure foundation for a permanent industrial hub. We do not want this BESS project, nor do we want the industrial trajectory it sets for our community.
Lack of Comprehensive Lifecycle Analysis: The full lifecycle of these battery plants remains deeply concerning. There is a glaring lack of transparency regarding the long-term decommissioning plans, safe disposal of degraded cells, and soil remediation protocols once the facility reaches its end-of-life. AI Data Centers: Brookfield Renewable Partners (the
owners of NEOEN since 2024) – a division of Brookfield Investments – agrees to provide Microsoft with 10,500 megawatts of renewable power. What isn’t in the brief is what is found on Brookfield’s head office web page – in that Brookfield Investments owns 150 data centers. Please investigate Brookfield’s AI Data Centers online for more information.
Canada’s Prime Minister, the Honourable Mark Carney, stated that food security is a matter of national sovereignty in his National Food Security Strategy. It is senseless that NEOEN’s BESS system is going to destroy prime agricultural lands in the present, the foreseeable future and for future generations. NEOEN could and should consider building in other viable
lands, such as abandoned gravel pits that pepper our community.
Please email readingv@hotmail.com for more information on how to sign the petition against this installation.
