{"id":679,"date":"2025-10-14T16:46:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T20:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/?p=679"},"modified":"2025-10-15T00:06:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T04:06:51","slug":"oxford-residents-question-no-risk-lithium-ion-battery-project-in-south-west-oxford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/local-watch\/oxford-residents-question-no-risk-lithium-ion-battery-project-in-south-west-oxford\/","title":{"rendered":"Oxford Residents Question \u201cNo-Risk\u201d Lithium-Ion Battery Project in South-West Oxford"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Oxford Residents Question \u201cNo-Risk\u201d Lithium-Ion Battery Project in South-West Oxford<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Oxford County, ON<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 Concerned residents of Oxford County are calling on Council to pause and reconsider approvals for the proposed Boralex \/ Canadian Solar Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) after a \u201crisk assessment\u201d presented to Council on October 8 reportedly claimed the project carried&nbsp;<em>\u201cno risk.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe idea that a massive industrial battery installation poses no risk is simply not credible,\u201d said Marie Russell of Stand4Oxford. \u201cThere are known global incidents of fires, evacuations, and pollution linked to these systems. We need honesty\u2014not marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The proposed facility would be built in South-West Oxford, directly across from a residential subdivision, raising questions about property values, insurance costs, and evacuation safety. Lithium-based battery fires can burn for hours and release toxic gases requiring large-scale response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is not green energy,\u201d added Maggie Hope Braun, ecosystems management technologist and author of the&nbsp;<em>Request to Decline Boralex BESS Project \u2013 Council Brief<\/em>. \u201cThese batteries are manufactured overseas, primarily in China, using high-impact mining and coal-fired power. There is no local manufacturing, no local energy supply, and no community benefit\u2014only private profit and public risk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The residents\u2019 independent brief argues that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The \u201cno-risk\u201d report presented to Council was inadequate and dismissive of public safety;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The project offers no measurable local benefit and should not be located near homes;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oxford County should require full transparency on manufacturing, fire safety, and decommissioning before any planning approvals proceed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOxford County wants to lead in sustainability\u2014but leadership means stewardship,\u201d said Braun. \u201cThat means protecting people and land first, not taking corporate assurances at face value.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The full Council Brief has been submitted for inclusion on the next Council agenda under&nbsp;<em>Correspondence<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oxford Residents Question \u201cNo-Risk\u201d Lithium-Ion Battery Project in South-West Oxford Oxford County, ON&nbsp;\u2014 Concerned residents of Oxford County are calling on Council to pause and reconsider approvals for the proposed Boralex \/ Canadian Solar Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) after a \u201crisk assessment\u201d presented to Council on October 8 reportedly claimed the project carried&nbsp;\u201cno risk.\u201d&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-watch"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screenshot-2025-10-15-at-12.05.22-AM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":685,"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679\/revisions\/685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stand4oxford.ca\/landing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}