Oologah Planning Commission votes against zone change to build battery energy storage plant

The Oologah Planning Commission voted not to rezone the land where a Texas company was hoping to build an energy plant.

Dozens of people came to the meeting Tuesday and told the board they were against the plant. Another meeting was held on Jan. 16th so people could learn about the Black Mountain Energy Storage project.

WHAT WAS BEING VOTED ON?

The Oologah Planning Commission was voting to change land south of the Family Dollar/Dollar Tree on Highway 169 from Commercial zoning to Industrial zoning.

If the zoning was changed to Industrial, then Black Mountain Energy Storage could have built a battery energy storage plant there.

Because the zoning wasn’t changed, the company will not be able to build there.

WHAT DID PEOPLE SAY?

Cody Burch was one of several people who spoke to the planning commission and urged them to vote no on the zoning change.

“We’re moving forward in this town, hopefully, we can move forward with a different business, bring some other business into town. Not industrial rights in our city and town limits. We have areas for that, so that’s where they need to be.”

Many people spoke about concerns with the environment, fires, and decreasing property values.

Burch says it would be good to see this area get developed, but he doesn’t believe the battery plant was the answer.

“Oologah is looking to get bigger, but we got to do it the right way and bring the right businesses to the right areas of town,” said Burch.

Burch says he was proud to see the large turnout at the board meeting.

“This town is so small, we’re all tight-knit and we all like to be like family if we can. If we don’t support something, we’re going to let you know about it,” said Burch. “I think the turnout was great. Honestly, I used to be a board member here for six years, and this was probably the largest turnout that we’ve ever had at a board meeting. So it was a really good thing. I think the community really spoke out on this issue.”

WHAT DOES THE PROPERTY OWNER SAY?

Matthew Hinson, who owns the land with his business partner, was the only person who spoke out in support of the project.

He wishes the project would have gone through because he says it would have brought more money to the city.

“I’m disappointed in the vote tonight,” said Hinson. “This was a very large project, almost half a billion dollars in investment, which would have generated millions of dollars a year for our school and fire department and our ambulance and other general Rogers County funds.”

He wishes there would have been a better chance to talk to people about what this project would have done.

“I understand the concerns from the community,” said Hinson. “I wish there was a better forum to have a more back-and-forth conversation with the experts, but I do understand the concerns and we’re going to continue to do what we can to bring value to the community.”

Hinson says they will continue to try and develop the land.

“If it’s going to remain a commercial property, any kind of gas station, retail, strip mall, we will continue to develop the property that we can bring the most value to the community,” said Hinson.

WHAT DOES THE COMPANY SAY?

Carolyn O’Brien, the Director of Permitting and Entitlement for Black Mountain Energy Storage, says they aren’t happy with the vote.

“It is always discouraging when something like this happens,” said O’Brien. “We try and come in with an open mind and let people know that we’re homeowners too and we want everybody’s questions to be answered. But it’s a little discouraging when you can tell they’re not listening to what you’re saying.”

She says one of the big issues her company has to fight is people not understanding the project.

“Sometimes this happens, in areas that we’re trying to do our rezoning, our conditional use permit,” said O’Brien. “Disinformation is an issue with battery storage, we try and provide as many studies and articles as we can, but once people start getting on Google it sort of runs rampant from there.”

O’Brien wants people to know that explosions aren’t a huge risk and they are legally required to take into account the environmental impacts.

“We have studies done, we always work with FEMA, we work with the floodplain administrators,” said O’Brien. “There would be no upstream or downstream impacts for the project, regardless of what is built there. That’s the rule.”

She says they aren’t giving up on the project.

“We’re going to regroup,” said O’Brien. “We really like this area. The coal plant across the street is supposed to retire in the next few years, so there will be some shortages in the electric grid, so we like this location and we’re going to keep looking to see if there’s maybe another area we could look at. Some of the townspeople mentioned they would like it, just not in that area.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

The town board will accept or deny the commission’s vote at their meeting Thursday.

Black Mountain Energy Storage will need to wait at least 18 months before another vote on a zoning change can happen.