Hillsboro’s Lithium Ion BESS Battery Boom Is Happening in the Quiet — and That’s the Problem

 The Real Story – A Community Column / If you do not have time to read this story, watch the video and learn all you need to know.

Hillsboro’s Battery Boom Is Happening in the Quiet — and That’s the Problem.  Yesterday I was standing on West Union Road with a view that still feels like old Hillsboro: open fields, working land, and the familiar pull of Helvetia Market just behind the spot I was standing. It’s peaceful. It’s beautiful. And if you don’t know what a “BESS” is — a Battery Energy Storage System — you’re about to.

Because right here, in the same breath as “data center capital,” Hillsboro is sliding into another identity: a battery hub. Not the little batteries in your flashlight. Not a couple of Tesla Powerwalls in a garage. I’m talking about industrial-scale lithium battery arrays — rows and rows of container-sized units, often compared to semi-trailers, fenced, wired, cooled, and guarded.

And here’s the part that should bother everyone, no matter what side you’re on politically:

This is being normalized without real public understanding, real public process, or real public preparedness.

We’re approving industrial risk like it’s a landscaping permit

I’ve spoken with local leaders who didn’t know much — sometimes anything — about modern utility-scale battery systems. That’s not a character attack; it’s a civic reality. BESS is new to most people. But it’s not new to the developers, the financiers, and the industries that need more electricity than our current grid can comfortably deliver.

That imbalance — between what the public understands and what gets approved — is where generational mistakes are made.

I’m talking about projects like Chickadee Energy Storage, now moving through the City of Hillsboro’s development review process, on its way to a certain approval. Hillsboro, Oregon, and it’s not happening in a vacuum. PGE has already brought a major battery project online in Hillsboro, and nobody outside City Hall or PGE even knew it.  I am speaking of the Constable, a 75-MW battery energy storage project in Hillsboro that achieved commercial operation in December 2024, as part of a broader multi-project buildout. Portland General Electric+1

You can argue all day about whether batteries are “good” or “bad.” But the honest answer is: they can be both. Even the EPA says BESS can help stabilize the grid — and also that lithium battery incidents raise legitimate safety concerns, because these fires can be difficult to extinguish, can reignite later, and can release harmful emissions. US EPA

Hillsboro To Approve Chickadee BESS Project On The Edge Of Helvetia

The Chickadee project will include almost 200 lithium-ion batteries, roughly the size of semitrucks, and will be built directly across from the Helvetia Market.  When I asked the City of Hillsboro for full disclosure last week, I was sent some drawings.  I asked for the entire development packet and have been sent nothing.  Yet an approval is coming out, and the time to comment on this one has come and gone.  Unless you live within 200 feet of the land and received a notice, or saw a tiny sign on the roadside, you would have no way to know about it.

Here is the project design that the County sent me- this is what the applicant was required to show.  Looks not so dangerous, right?

Here is a computer-generated version of what that same parcel of land could look like based on the PGE BESS mentioned above.  A significant difference when seen in this light.  Imagine this forever gracing the rolling hills of Helvetia- God help us if we have a natural disaster or if one or more of these badboys overheat.  It will be a catastrophe like none we have seen in recent times.

So why are we acting like this is routine?  Why all the secrecy, and why can’t Hillsboro or Washington County residents have a seat at the table?  The answer is simple- the current political leadership sees these as “green energy,” and the money is too big.  SO ONLY THEY will decide what you will or will not have to live with.  But rest assured, they know their families will never live next to one- you can and that it ok.  Or do they not understand what is at stake?  The record is clear – Lithium Batteries cause more environmental damage than any benefit they will ever provide (they have a limited lifespan, and the mining process is an ecological stain on the Earth).  The fire and decommissioning risks are well documented but big money like BlackRock and the Carlyle Group are behind these, and they will not take NO for an answer

Moss Landing should have ended the “don’t worry about it” era

If you want a single phrase that should snap every city and county official awake, it’s Moss Landing.

In January 2025, a major fire at the Moss Landing battery facility in Monterey County, California, triggered evacuations of up to 1,500 residents, raised air-quality concerns due to toxic smoke, and forced officials into a familiar posture: let it burn, because direct suppression can be dangerous. AP News+1 The EPA deployed air monitoring in the aftermath and tracked the incident response publicly. US EPA

No one had to die for it to be a warning.

The lesson isn’t “all batteries will burn.” The lesson is when something goes wrong, the consequences can be outsized — and the public deserves to know what is being placed near homes, schools, farms, and businesses, and what the emergency plan is before the first truck arrives.

Hillsboro already got a preview: the Digital Realty Data Center fire in 2025

If you think “that’s California, not here,” Hillsboro got its own reminder in 2025.

A fire at a Digital Realty data center in Hillsboro burned for about five hours, and firefighters “played defense” and waited for batteries involved in the incident to burn themselves out, according to local reporting. https://www.kptv.com Later reporting indicated the ignition source was a UPS cabinet (not a utility-scale BESS), but it still underscores the point: energy-dense systems can create complex fires that chew up hours, resources, and certainty. WIRED

We are building more energy infrastructure, for an economy that demands it — but we’re not having the matching public conversation about risk, response, and accountability.

The money is moving faster than the public can track

The battery buildout isn’t just a “local developer” story. It’s global capital.

BlackRock acquired Jupiter Power in 2022 — one of the larger U.S. utility-scale storage developers. Business Wire+1 Then, in October 2025, a BlackRock-led group agreed to buy Aligned Data Centers in a deal reported at around $18 billion. readymontereycounty.org+1

If you think that doesn’t matter locally, think again: data centers and batteries are becoming a paired package — not because investors love scenery, but because electricity is the new land rush, and storage is increasingly part of the operating plan.

Here’s what I’m asking for — and it’s not radical.

I’m not arguing we should never build batteries. I’m arguing we should stop building them in the quiet.

If Hillsboro is going to host multiple BESS sites (some already operating, others proposed), then the city and county should adopt a clear, public, enforceable playbook that includes:

1. Full visual disclosure: site profiles, elevations, setbacks, screening, lighting, and realistic renderings before approval.

2. A public safety case: fire prevention design, detection, suppression strategy, and offsite impact planning — in plain language.

3. Responder readiness: documented training, equipment, mutual aid, and a clear incident command plan.

4. Environmental protection planning: containment, cleanup protocols, and decommissioning/long-term waste handling. (EPA highlights cleanup/disposal as a core challenge.) US EPA

5. Transparency on ownership and operations: who owns it, who operates it, who profits, who insures it, and who pays when something goes wrong.

And if local officials don’t yet have the expertise to interrogate these projects, then the honest move is to slow down, bring in outside technical review, and host real hearings — not rubber stamps.

The choice isn’t “progress” versus “fear.” It’s maturity versus denial.

Hillsboro is changing fast. Data centers. AI infrastructure. Transmission upgrades. Warehouses of compute power. The electricity economy is remaking our landscape — and now, increasingly, it’s remaking our risk profile too.

I’m not interested in panic. I’m interested in civic adulthood.

If we’re going to place industrial-scale lithium battery systems near where people live and farm and raise kids, then we owe future Hillsboro a simple promise:

Nothing this consequential gets built in the dark.

Jupiter Energy West Union was just approved and is awaiting the appeal deadline to run out.

Despite a massive public response and active opposition from the community group No Batteries In Backyards, a Washington County Hearings officer approved the controversial project, backed by investment giant BlackRock, which will place 115 Lithium-Ion batteries in the residential small-acreage community of Bendemeer.  Over 350 individuals submitted opposition to this project, setting a modern-day record.  Extensive testimony on sound and noise impacts, the destruction of the rural character, and violations of the Urban Reserve were made with many tough questions asked.  Despite hiring experienced lawyers and fighting this Washington County land use case with great vigor, County Hearings Officer Joe Turner decided to concur with the County planners that this privately owned battery facility qualified as a Public Utility and agreed to allow this massive industrial use, which poses significant risk to the public, and approved the application. This is the only BESS to receive substantial public attention, thanks to a couple of neighbors who received notice and reached out to the Herald.  We addressed the issue during the land-use process, which sparked significant public interest and outcry.  That is not usually the case.  Here is one of several stories we wrote on this case.

Jupiter Energy BESS Battery Facility In Hillsboro Threatens Neighborhood Safety And Property Values

Sadly, our political leaders like Pam Treece (who is running for the Washington County Commissioners Chair) and current Chair Kathryn Harrington stayed quiet on this issue and allowed it to happen on their watch. The many fine families who will now be forced to live next to this noisy and dangerous facility will be affected forever.  The developer and the county made assurances about safety and the absence of negative impacts, but were unwilling to make any guarantees to the community.  So it is fine to say “Don’t worry- nothing will happen,” but the words are meaningless and disengenuous when it gets right down to it – they do not believe their words enough to really stand behind them.

If you watch the video I made to clearly illustrate the 4 locations in Hillsboro and Washington County where BESS is built or coming, you will know what you need to know.  In this work, I am in the field documenting the sites, reviewing slides and sketches, and openly and honestly speaking about what is happening and what the risks and rewards are.

Here is a map for all of you, as well, including all your Hillsboro City Councilors and Washington County Commissioners, who have told me that no one knew this was happening.  Ask yourselves this.  Why is that?

Now it is your turn to comment below and weigh in on what you think!  I know for my part this has been an eye-opening journey of discovery- one that is completely tied to Data Centers, the privatization of our Power Grid, PGE, and its many questionable tactics, and our politicians who seem to be so woefully asleep at the wheel or perhaps purposefully conflicted or sitting this one out.

It is going to be a wild 2026- and the more we all know, the more powerful we are.