A state lawmaker and a Monterey County supervisor are calling for the Vistra Moss Touchdown Power Storage Facility to stay closed till an unbiased investigation can decide the reason for final week’s fireplace.
The fireplace was nonetheless burning itself out Monday.
District 2 Supervisor Glenn Church stated in an announcement he has deep issues concerning the results of fireside on close by residents’ well being and on the surroundings. Church stated that each he and State Assemblymember Daybreak Addis need the ability to remain offline till security measures are carried out to forestall one other fireplace.
“In all honesty, I do not know if those guarantees are possible,” Church stated. “With this being the fourth fire incident in a little over five years in Moss Landing, it is obvious that this technology is ahead of both government’s ability to regulate it and private industry’s ability to control it.”
Lithium-ion batteries on the facility caught fireplace Thursday. Evacuation orders for about 1,200 individuals had been lifted Friday night. Close by state Freeway 1 remained closed in each instructions on the plant till Sunday night.
PG&E additionally has its personal battery storage facility on the web site that’s nonetheless on-line. There was a fireplace on the web site — an space shared by Tesla — in 2022.
Lack of a ‘proven system’ to battle battery fires
Church stated he needs extra fireplace prevention put in place. After talking with native fireplace officers, the supervisor stated it’s clear to him there’s no confirmed option to simply extinguish a battery fireplace as soon as it’s reached the magnitude of the Vistra blaze.
“Attempts to put out battery fires at other sites have only worsened the situation,” Church stated. “Water is used initially only when the batteries start to heat, not when flames have emerged. I find the lack of a proven system to extinguish the fires highly alarming. We simply cannot have a fire incident every year or two and expect that to be normal.”
Officers maintain a information convention concerning the lithium-ion battery fireplace on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (County of Monterey/YouTube)
Monterey County stated Monday air displays close to the ability hadn’t detected harmful ranges of hydrogen fluoride (HF).
Particularly, officers stated the degrees haven’t exceeded California Workplace of Environmental Well being Hazard Evaluation’s (OEHHA’s) acute Reference Publicity Degree (REL).
An acute REL is the very best focus of a chemical within the air to which an individual may be uncovered for an hour with out rising their threat of experiencing critical, non-cancer well being impacts.
“I find the lack of a proven system to extinguish the fires highly alarming. We simply cannot have a fire incident every year or two and expect that to be normal.”
Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church
Monterey County stated concentrations of small particulate matter (PM 2.5) have been measured at ranges categorized by MBARD as “good” to “moderate.”
Monitoring air high quality
The U.S. Environmental Safety Company (EPA), Vistra’s unbiased contractor CTEH, and the Monterey Bay Air Sources District (MBARD) are monitoring air for particulate matter (PM) and chemical substances each inside the battery facility and all through the area.
Monitoring areas and outcomes are being posted publicly as data turns into out there on the MBARD webpage and the County of Monterey Division of Emergency Administration incident web page.
Attorneys representing group members participated in a digital city corridor assembly on Monday afternoon to offer group updates and focus on out there sources.
