Lithium storage on hold

EAST TEXAS – On Wednesday, Van Zandt County Commissioners voted to pass a moratorium, pausing all planned green energy projects in the county until Attorney General Ken Paxton investigates their full effects. According to our news partner KETK, the moratorium passed unanimously, pausing construction of nine battery storage units and seven solar projects in the county. This fight has been ongoing since 2024, when the Finnish-based company Taaleri Energia announced the Amador Bess Project in rural Canton.

Given the proximity of international infrastructure to their homes, national security is a major concern for many residents.

” The Department of War says this company is a national security threat,” Van Zandt resident Nancy White said. “The company is on the Department of War’s ‘Prohibited Technology List’, and they are now additionally on the State of Texas ‘Prohibited Technology List’ for having connections to the Chinese Communist Party.”

J.P.  Fisher has owned land in Van Zandt County for 6 generations and is not worried about the international threat.

“If China wanted to attack, they could just do it through cellphones or gas supply,” Fisher said.

Fisher adds the battery centers would not damage the farmland and provide a new kind of revenue, “Now I’ll just be farming megawatts instead of hay. And I don’t want anyone to come in here and tell me what to do with the land,” Fisher said.

Some crewmembers, including Fisher, were worried the moratorium would not carry sufficient legal weight or would only result in fines, as in the case in Franklin County.
However, County Judge Andy Reese assured residents that this moratorium does not change any laws and is simply enforcing what the governor and the attorney general have already stated.