Black Mountain Energy Storage, Stu Stenger of Natural Land Bridge LLC and members of the Christian county school district are really putting the pressure on our county commissioners to get this approved. We don’t appreciate the strong arm tactics that are going on in order to get this BESS into Ozark, MO.

We are going to continue the fight to make sure that ALL the commissioners are informed about the truth regarding these BESS facilities because there is a lot of lying by omission going on here with the above mentioned 2 of the 3 groups (the schools are just interested in the promise of a big tax windfall that this will not actually deliver – although it is being dangled in front of them like a golden carrot by representatives of Black Mountain Energy Storage) and our mission is now to get the truth to the commissioners and those misguided individuals who believe this BESS is in Christian counties best interest – it is not, not even in the slightest.

1. Black Mountain Energy Storage claims they want to be a good neighbor to the residents of Christian County, MO. Yet at the February 27, 2024 meeting they failed to mention that they would NOT be the ones commissioning and operating this facility. This is based on information from their website that talks about how they bundle together BESS facilities they get approval for in various cities and sell them to investors and banking groups.
2. Black Mountain Energy Storage has not given answers to many of the questions asked by residents who attended the February 27, 2024 meeting. Emails were sent to the county commissioners asking about this and to date we have not received an answer.
3. In the information give to county commissioners Black Mountain Energy Storage only mentioned the BESS failure in Surprise, AZ and made no mention of the numerous fires and incidents that have occurred since the 2020 failure. They conveniently did not mention the numerous BESS failures and fires that have happened since 2020, including the three fires in NY that happened in the summer of 2023. Their efforts to minimize the dangers of BESS facilities should concern everyone.
4. Carolyn O’Brien, a representative of Black Mountain Energy Storage lied by omission when she said there were no toxic metals in the lithium-ion batteries. Because lithium is an element and not a metal BUT it is still toxic. Lithium reacts violently with MOISTURE, WATER or STEAM to produce heat and flammable and explosive Hydrogen gas and toxic Lithium Hydroxide.
5. Black Mountain Energy Storage failed to tell the county commissioners and residents the toxic components lithium-ion batteries can give off in the form of toxic gas, fumes and ash. Instead O’Brien continued to tell people that the batteries being used were safe. She also failed to mention that the batteries contain toxic PFAS. These chemicals are essential components in lithium-ion batteries, including in the electrodes (cathode and anode), binder, electrolyte (main component and additives), and separator (porous membrane). The industry acknowledges that commercial alternatives to such chemicals are 13.5 years away. In the meantime, lithium-ion battery fires will release harmful ‘forever chemicals’ (PFAS)  into the environment when extinguished with (uncontained) water from a fire sprinkler system. Read more here. There is no possible way to contain the potentially millions of gallons of water that may be needed to fight a BESS fire. Plus the burned out batteries will remain onsite for an undetermined period of time and in the event of rain or strong storms the water and ash will be going right into our ground water from these burnt and damaged batteries.
6. Black Mountain Energy Storage makes it seem like this BESS will provide power to local residents when the truth is that this facility will be used to siphon power from the electrical grid to sell to investors.
7. Black Mountain Energy Storage is not allowed to sell power to residents of MO. Utility companies would have to buy power on the wholesale market from this BESS at inflated peak prices. There is NO incentive for them to do this, so there is no incentive or reason to have this facility built here as it does not benefit the residents of Christian county.
8. Carolyn O’Brien lied when she said that a BESS would have prevented the power outages in Texas in 2021. The reality is that a BESS facility can only provide short term power for a few hours. Since the power was out in Texas for over a week. This BESS would have done NOTHING to keep the power on for the residents of Texas. Not to mention prices on power with ERCOT went to $9,000/megawatt-hour which was the “system cap” set by ERCOT, compared to a more typical $25/MWh. Many consumers who had variable rate contracts with ERCOT were blindsided when they received their bills and a current class action lawsuit is pending.
9. Carolyn O’Brien stated that Black Mountain Energy Storage would not be receiving any of the federal tax credits being given by the Biden administration under the Inflation Reduction Act. Just to clarify that YES they will not benefit from these tax credits but only because they will NOT actual be taking ownership of the BESS they want to put in Christian County. Instead whatever investment group they SELL this facility to will be the beneficiaries of those tax credits.

If you live in Christian County, MO and don’t want a BESS facility put in Ozark – please contact our County Commissioners.