They will tell us it won't be loud...

They will tell us the cooling fans will only be running at 40% of max capable fan speed and will be quiet.

They will tell us they will put up a 25ft tall concrete sound barrier (wall) around the whole facility and hide it with multiple layers of dense evergreen trees, shrubs, and plants so the walls will be completely hidden all year long by evergreen vegetation and we won't even notice the facility.

But, in truth, it will only be hiding the extreme dangers hidden within those walls...

What we won't know, until it is too late, is how loud this facility really is.
They will tell us, with the sound barrier wall and greenbelt around it, the DB levels won't be an issue. Everything will be within the "limits"... They will meet the db code requirements.

They won't tell us, that if they get their Conditional Use Permit approved, our current rural (39db) and residential (42db) sound limits at night won't apply to them..

As they will be permitted as an "Industrial" facility, and the db limits in the Code will get bumped up to 57db for rural and 60db for residential next to an "Industrial" site.

Getting the Conditional use Permit, will make it more possible for them to "meet the code" for sound levels for an "Industrial" site in King County.

What happens if they don't meet the db limit code after it is built?

They will get a small fine...

They aren't spending a billion dollars on this facility without knowing they will make billions in profit off this facility- so they will just eat the fines as a cost of doing business...

And, all of us will be the ones subject to this loud and dangerous industrial facility next door.

If you haven't thought about this yet, you should think about how it will kill our property values...

Especially the rural properties sharing property lines and any home that can see the proposed property...

On top of that, any one driving by will see and hear this industrial facility- making it feel more like an industrial area than a rural and residential area...
In the attached pic, you can see Tesla's Megapack rating of 95db output per Megapack. This industrial facility could have up to 387 Megapacks spread across the 14.1 acres.

Anything between a "sustained exposure to 90db-95db Level of sound may result in permanent hearing loss". We will be listening to this facility 24/7.
Each and every single one of those (up to 387) battery containers would put out 95db of loud noise 24/7 when fans are operating at 100% and drop down to 84db when the fans are run at the minimum "safe" level of 40%.

Remember, the fans' sole purpose is to keep the battery storage containers cool to try to prevent malfunctions in components, heat related issues and reduce heat related accelerated wear and tear on components within the container, and ultimately overheating and starting spontaneous combustion and leading to uncontrollable and deadly thermal runaway...

For our safety, we do not want the cooling systems running at their minimum.
They will tell us they can turn the fans down to 40% of max speed and reduce the 24/7 noise from 95db down to 84db without needing a massive and ugly 25ft tall concrete sound barrier which would still be required to reduce the noise levels down to "code".

Turning the fans down to the minimum of 40% of max speed to reduce db levels to 84db, is still equivalent to having up to 387 gas-powered lawnmowers and leaf blowers running 24/7- FYI, our hearing will be damaged after 2 hours of exposure to 84db noises. Again, we will have this facility generating noises 24/7.

The level of noise will be a complete public disturbance that unreasonably disturbs and interferes with the peace, comfort and repose of all of us close to this facility- including Mattson Middle school.

The noise levels produced by this facility will be a total public nuisance that unreasonably disturbs our community, our neighborhoods, the rural properties sharing property lines, and Mattson Middle School.

They also won't tell us it will get louder in the Summer on warmer days- when everyone wants to be outside- as the containers will be hotter and require the cooling system/fans to kick in...

Think about that for a moment...

The loudest times will be when it is sunny and warm.

That's back up to 95db...

The loudest times will be when the batteries are charging and discharging rapidly- so that is both when everyone gets home and when everyone is sleeping. But not necessarily in our time zone- it depends on to who/where they are selling their stored energy.

They will tell us the purpose of this facility is for environmental reasons; it is a for profit facility!

Omaha based Tenaska (the huge Oil and Gas company who is behind Goldfinch), is building this facility for one reason only- to make profit.

Period.

They expect to make BILLIONS.

They don't care about us. They don't care about Covington or PSE. They will be buying cheap hydro-electric power from PSE and selling that power on the energy markets to the highest out-of-state bidder. This facility won't be sitting idle waiting for PSE to ask them to supplement PSE's power production during outtages or during peak demand or for our/PSE's benefit- PSE has never needed to import energy from other states as far as I could find.

This industrial battery storage facility will be charging and discharging all the batteries as fast as possible to make Tenaska as much money as possible as quickly as possible...

Meaning it will be making the loudest and highest levels of sound as often as possible to make as much money as possible...

Remember, the cooling systems help the battery containers stay cool- hopefully reducing the likelihood of a fire or an explosion..

They will play with the cooling system's fan speed and say it will be run at 40% of max speed to meet the db/sound level code requirements during the approval process...

But, after it is built, and neighbors report the noise disturbance every day, all that will happen is Tenaska will pay the small fees on this BILLION-dollar profit industrial facility...

They won't tear it down.

They won't fix the noise issues...

They will say it is all automated and the fans run at the speeds required to cool the storage containers to keep them safe and avoid a catastrophic fire/explosion..

They will ask, do you want to risk a fire/explosion just so a few neighbors can have it be quieter?

If this was placed in an industrial area (where it should be) instead of our rural and residential area, they would be allowed to create 70db noise levels 24/7.
And, remember when it is hot, the cooling systems will be working overtime- so they won't be able to turn down the fans to 40%- making it even louder

We won't want to be outside due to all the noise and we won't be able to be out and enjoy our yards during the Summer...

There will be no peace and quiet ever again.

They will say they can build a 25ft tall sound barrier around the whole facility- but for anyone with a second or third floor with windows at different elevations than this facility, they will see over the wall and the sounds will hit them unmitigated at 84db-95db.

This is the wrong location for a battery storage facility.