HomeMy WebLinkAbout_Urgent_ Public Safety Concern – Oppose Puente Hills Mall Data Center & Battery Storage Project in the City of Industry (Illegal Approvals by Corrupt City of Industry Officials)CAUTION: This email originated from outside your organization. Exercise caution when opening attachments or clicking links, especially from unknown senders.
Dear County Supervisors, State Representatives, and City Officials,
Please include this correspondence in the official administrative record regarding the proposed data center development at the Puente Hills Mall site, the Marici Battery Energy Storage
System (BESS) project, and the zoning amendments or approvals intended to facilitate large-scale data centers and related energy infrastructure within the City of Industry.
I am a resident of Hacienda Heights for 20 years, and I am writing as a concerned member of the San Gabriel Valley community to express strong opposition to the proposed data center
at the Puente Hills Mall site and the associated battery storage projects within the City of Industry. I've grown up in the area and my friends and I have been frequenting the mall
during our weekend hangouts and love to visit Schabarum Regional Park and eating in the surrounding areas. We were hoping Puente Hills Mall would experience a Renaissance with the popularity
of Round 1, AMC, HaiDiLao, and more. but instead it's being left to decay by the owners and the corrupt City of Industry officials (Cory Moss, Michael Greubel, Steve Marcucci, Mark
Radecki, Newell W. Ruggles). The projects done in secret meetings by these City of Industry officials raise serious and urgent public safety concerns for surrounding communities. Large-scale
battery energy storage systems carry well-documented risks of thermal runaway and have experienced fire incidents in multiple jurisdictions. Such fires can be extremely difficult to
extinguish and may pose significant risks to nearby residents, businesses, and natural resources.
Based on the information currently available to the public, the City has not demonstrated compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Public Resources Code §21000
et seq.). Proceeding with approvals without first preparing a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) would raise serious legal concerns and may constitute a violation of CEQA. Under
Public Resources Code §21100 and CEQA Guidelines §15064, an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is required whenever substantial evidence supports a fair argument that a project may have
a significant effect on the environment. That threshold appears to be clearly met in this case.
The proposed project site is located directly across from Schabarum Regional Park and near Powder Canyon—areas that include sensitive wildlife habitat, open space, and heavily used recreational
trails. A single fire incident could threaten thousands of acres of parkland, wildlife habitat, and nearby residential neighborhoods.
The environmental and safety risks extend well beyond the boundaries of the City of Industry. Residents in surrounding communities—including Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, La Puente,
Walnut, Diamond Bar, and other nearby cities—live, work, and raise families in close proximity to the proposed project site. The addition of a large battery storage facility and energy-intensive
data center raises serious concerns about air quality, environmental hazards, electricity demand, water consumption for cooling, and long-term impacts on public health and quality of
life in already dense residential areas.
At the same time, the City is advancing zoning changes designed to accelerate the approval of large-scale data centers. Public discussions indicate that multiple such projects are already
being explored within the City of Industry. Data centers consume enormous quantities of electricity, require substantial water resources for cooling, and commonly rely on diesel backup
generators that increase air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Equally concerning is the limited public notification associated with these proposals, the lack of
transparency in how this project has been handled. Public notice appears to have been limited to properties within a 300-foot radius of the project site. This extremely limited notification
fails to reflect the true scale of potential impacts and risks to surrounding communities throughout the San Gabriel Valley.
Many homes in these communities are already increasingly difficult or expensive to insure due to wildfire risks. Approving a project that introduces additional fire hazards near residential
neighborhoods and open space would raise serious concerns about the protection of residents, property, and natural resources. Thousands of residents in surrounding communities who may
be affected by this project were not adequately informed and were not given a meaningful opportunity to participate in the decision-making process.
I also question why the Marici BESS project appears to have been approved or advanced without preparing a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Given the potential environmental and
public safety risks associated with large-scale battery storage facilities, this project warrants comprehensive environmental review under CEQA rather than approval through an exemption
or limited review process. CEQA does not permit public agencies to avoid environmental review by treating related actions as separate projects. Under CEQA Guidelines §§15378 and 15165,
dividing a broader development strategy into multiple approvals may constitute unlawful piecemealing. The Marici BESS proposal, the Title 17 zoning amendments, and the anticipated data
center developments appear to be components of a broader strategy to concentrate energy-intensive industrial infrastructure within the City of Industry. These actions should therefore
be evaluated together through a comprehensive environmental review, including a cumulative impacts analysis pursuant to CEQA Guidelines §15130.
Projects of this magnitude, particularly those involving large battery storage facilities, require broad public engagement, transparency, and careful environmental review. The current
process does not meet those expectations.
California law increasingly recognizes the importance of environmental justice in land-use decisions. Government Code §65302(h)(1), along with legislation such as AB 617, reflects the
State’s policy that communities already facing cumulative environmental burdens should not be subjected to additional concentrations of pollution and industrial risk.
Against this backdrop, it is deeply concerning that the City of Industry continues to make regional land-use decisions with substantial environmental consequences while operating under
a governance structure with a very limited residential population and therefore limited direct accountability to the surrounding communities that will bear many of the impacts.
For these reasons, I respectfully request that no approvals related to these projects move forward until the following conditions are met:
* Preparation of a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) evaluating fire risk, environmental impacts, public safety, and cumulative impacts of all related projects.
* Expanded public notification to residents across all potentially affected communities, not only those within a 300-foot radius.
* Public meetings that allow residents from surrounding cities to review project information and provide meaningful public input.
Our communities care deeply about protecting our families, our environment, and our regional parks and wildlife areas. Decisions that affect public safety, air quality, and environmental
resources must be made with full transparency and with meaningful participation from the communities that will bear the impacts.
We respectfully urge decision-makers to listen to the voices of residents throughout Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, La Puente, Walnut, Diamond Bar, and neighboring communities, and
to halt and ban these projects until these concerns are fully addressed.
Please include this correspondence in the official administrative record for the Puente Hills Mall data center proposal, the Marici BESS project, and any related zoning amendments or
approvals.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Michelle Yu
Hacienda Heights