<div><strong>Help Fund Our Fight Against Industrial BESS in Santa Cruz County!</strong>
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<div>Our community in Santa Cruz County on California's iconic Central Coast is facing a critical moment—one that could shape the safety, health, and future of our home for generations.
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<div>A <strong>14-acre industrial battery energy storage site (BESS)</strong> has been proposed right next to homes and schools and in the middle of Watsonville's renowned strawberry fields. Industrial-scale BESS facilities do not belong in rural communities like ours. Our fight is about protecting our community, our environment, and our right to have a say in local planning decisions. We must hold decision-makers accountable and ensure the voices of residents are heard.
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<div>While we support clean energy and the transition away from fossil fuels, the battery technology selected for this project poses serious and avoidable risks: these lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries are known to be <strong>flammable, explosive, and capable of releasing toxic chemicals</strong> in the event of fire, malfunction, earthquake, or extreme weather.
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<div>As wildfire survivors and coastal residents, we know too well how quickly disaster can strike, causing irreparable personal and environmental damage.
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<div>That’s why<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.stoplithiumbessinsantacruz.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>STOP Lithium BESS in Santa Cruz County</em></a> , a grassroots group of residents, parents, medical professionals, firefighters, growers and environmental advocates is fighting for a common sense and reasonable solution:
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<div><strong>Use safer, non-flammable, non-explosive battery technology.</strong>
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<div>It already exists. And it doesn’t poison the community when something goes wrong.
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<div>But we need help.
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<div><strong>Why We Need an Attorney</strong>
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<div>The permitting process for this project is complex and heavily influenced by the developer’s interests. To make sure our community’s voice is heard — and to ensure that safer alternatives are properly considered — we must have expert legal representation.
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<div>Our attorney is helping us:
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<div>•	Challenge dangerously inadequate environmental and safety oversights
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<div>•	Demand fair evaluation of non-hazardous battery technologies
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<div>•	Hold decision-makers accountable to public health and safety
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<div>•	Give ordinary residents a fighting chance against well-funded developers
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<div>This legal work is urgent, specialized, and expensive. Grassroots groups like ours don’t have deep pockets. We rely entirely on community members who care about the place we all call home.
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<div><strong>What Your Donation Will Do</strong>
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<div>Your contribution will go<strong> directly toward legal fees</strong> to ensure <a href="https://www.stoplithiumbessinsantacruz.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>STOP Lithium BESS in Santa Cruz County</em></a> can continue to:
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<div>•	Hire experts to prepare reports that are independent of developer influence
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<div>•	Identify critical flaws and omissions in both the County’s zoning ordinance and the developer’s application during environmental review
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<div>•	Participate in hearings
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<div>•	File appeals
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<div>•	Protect Santa Cruz County from avoidable environmental and safety risks
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<div>Even small donations help more than you know. Together, we can send a powerful message: <strong>our safety is not optional. Our community is worth protecting.</strong>
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<div><strong>This isn’t just about batteries. It’s about people.</strong>
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<div>It’s about the families living nearby and the farms that grow our food.
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<div>It’s about the lakes, rivers and wildlife at risk.
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<div>It’s about firefighters who might face an impossible situation.
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<div>It’s about the future we leave to the next generation of Santa Cruz residents.
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<div>Please help us stand up for safer renewable energy solutions.
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<div>Please help us protect our home.
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<div><strong>Donate today</strong> — <strong>because our community deserves the safest technology available, not the cheapest or what’s most convenient and profitable for the developer. </strong>
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<div>— From the bottom of our hearts,
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<div><strong>Thank you. </strong>
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<div><strong><em>STOP Lithium BESS</em></strong> <em>&amp; the Santa Cruz Community</em>
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Karell Reader

William Dicochea

Katie Moore

Craig Deane

Jamilah Vittor

Polly Hormel

Phoenix Artemisia

Nina Audino

Robert Dutton-Jones

Margaret-Ann Schott

Help Us Fight Hazardous Lithium BESS in Santa Cruz County

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Help Us Fight Hazardous Lithium BESS in Santa Cruz County

Still $1,820 to go. Help us build momentum.