Snoqualmie Valley for Responsible Energy (“SVRE”), a community organization formed in response to the proposed Cascadia Ridge battery energy storage system near Snoqualmie, announced today that it has retained J. Richard “Rick” Aramburu and Peter J. Eglick to advise the organization in connection with the proposed project.
The proposed facility, backed by Jupiter Power and commercially sponsored by Puget Sound Energy, would place an industrial-scale lithium-ion battery energy storage system near homes, businesses, recreation areas, and the Snoqualmie Valley community. SVRE has consistently raised concerns about the project’s siting, safety planning, emergency response assumptions, public process, environmental impacts, and the risk of allowing major utility-scale battery infrastructure to advance before local communities and regulators have fully evaluated the consequences.
“Retaining Rick Aramburu and Peter Eglick reflects the seriousness of this fight,” said Danielle Wallace, President of SVRE. “This is not a routine land-use dispute. PSE and Jupiter are attempting to advance a major industrial battery project in a community that was given no meaningful voice at the front end. Snoqualmie Valley residents deserve transparency, accountability, and a full review before any project of this scale is allowed to gain momentum.”
Aramburu and Eglick are widely known in Washington for their work in land use, environmental, growth-management, and administrative-law matters. Their engagement will support SVRE’s ongoing efforts to ensure that King County, the City of Snoqualmie, state regulators, and PSE are held accountable for the full consequences of the Cascadia Ridge proposal.
“PSE cannot present this as merely a private developer’s land-use application,” Wallace said. “PSE’s own materials show that the company has treated this project as part of its
resource-acquisition strategy and expects ratepayers to support it. That makes this a public accountability issue, not just a neighborhood concern.”
SVRE emphasized that its opposition is not a rejection of clean energy. Rather, the group argues that clean-energy infrastructure must be sited responsibly, reviewed transparently, and designed around public safety, environmental stewardship, and community trust.
“Battery storage may have a role in Washington’s energy future,” Wallace said. “But the first test of that future cannot be whether a utility and a developer can push a risky, poorly sited project through a surprised community. If PSE wants public trust, it must earn it.”
SVRE will continue to pursue all available legal, regulatory, public-records, public-comment, and community-engagement avenues to oppose the Cascadia Ridge project as currently proposed.
About Snoqualmie Valley for Responsible Energy: Snoqualmie Valley for Responsible Energy is a non-profit community organization advocating for responsible energy infrastructure, transparent public process, and protection of local communities from poorly sited utility-scale battery energy storage development.
