The facility on Highway 65 and Avenue 96 was approved back in the fall of 2019 and is expected to be completed sometime next year.
"One of the big why's is a state mandate for renewable energy. So we're trying to get away from fossil fuels power plants, nuclear natural gas, or Hydro. Those are the main sources of electricity that we all use every day in our household," explains Michael Washam, the Associate Director of the Tulare County Resource Management Agency.
The Vistra Deer Creek project is by the same company that had a large fire at a battery and power storage facility in Monterey County last week.
RELATED: Fire at one of world's largest battery plants in California forces evacuations as toxic smoke spews
That fire in Moss Landing forced nearly 2,000 people to evacuate their homes and heavy metals were found in the soil afterward.
Tulare County Fire Chief Charlie Norman says the plant being built in Terra Bella is hundreds of acres away from heavily populated areas, and several precautions are in place.
"We have numerous requirements. We have separation of units, so that we have space between the units," Chief Norman explains. "We have water storage issues, so if it involves combustibles, we can suppress it with that. We have egress issues, where we have to have a road base where we have fire engine access and we have distance requirements."
The Tulare County Resource Management Agency says preserving agricultural land was also top of mind for some locals.
Officials say that's why each project like this requires money to be set aside to one day restore the land back to its original state or better.
"Every project, as it goes through its approval process, requires a developer agreement that contains a reclamation plan, and what that plan does is at the end of the project's life to reclaim that [land] back to the same or better conditions than it was when it started."
A public presentation by Vistra planned for Tuesday's board meeting was postponed.
But county leaders tell Action News the project will bring dozens of jobs for local residents and some revenue through required work permits the Texas based company has had to receive prior to building.
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