Starting on January 16, 2025, Moss Landing, a small community in California’s central coast, was shaken by a 5 day-long fire at a nearby lithium-ion battery plant. Now, the community has organized itself to prevent this from ever occurring again.
Brian Roeder speaks to the Moss Landing community on February 8, 2025.
Two large smokestacks stood tall against a clear blue sky behind Brian Roeder, a Moss Landing community member and organizer of Never Again Moss Landing, the local fire response group. Next to him is a glossy sign depicting a frightened sea otter under a cloud of smoke and fire. On this sunny Saturday morning on February 8th, community members and media representatives were invited to join the community group’s first public discussion. Community members held signs like “Vistra poisoned us” and looked on as the local steering committee began.
After the flames broke out at the Vistra-owned Moss Landing Power Plant in on January 16, 2025, the Moss Landing community was immediately concerned with the potential human and environmental health impacts of the toxins. It was first ignited after the failures of a fire suppression system that led to an explosive chain reaction. When firefighters attempted to put it out, superheated gases and a broken camera system made the job even more difficult. After first starting, the fire burned for five days. Community members began to have different health symptoms shortly after the fire, which is where concerns started to be raised.
As the community meeting began, it became clear that the health impacts of the fire are shared across community members. Heather Griffin, a resident of Moss Landing, stood at the microphone detailing the soreness in her gums and metallic taste in her mouth. She revealed that 2 lab results determined there is lithium in her blood. There was palpable shock in the audience, as community members looked at one another and shook their heads in disbelief. Heather described in detail the blood testing she asked from her doctors, which community members earnestly recorded for their own use.
A few weeks prior to this event, I connected with Brian and Issara Willenskomer, another resident, via the new community group’s Facebook page. They both told me that Vistra had not contacted any community members after the fire, and weeks later, this is still the truth. At the community gathering a media representative asked the committee if they have had a difficult time reaching Vistra representatives, because the media has. Now one month after the start of the disaster, there has been no attempt by Vistra to be transparent with the Moss Landing community or the media. For community members, this adds insult to injury, and understandably so.
Issara had told me that the broader Moss Landing community is “pretty pissed off and not getting any assurances” from the government or Vistra. It is clear to him that the fire released toxins, but he doesn’t know where they have gone. Ultimately, over 80% of the batteries inside the power plant have been destroyed and the community questions what the implications are. Given the recent history of lithium-ion battery plant fires around the country, the community has reason to be concerned. In late October 2024, a fire broke out at the Critical Mineral Recovery lithium-ion battery recycling plant in Fredericktown, Missouri, leading to thick smoke across the city and a fish kill nearly three miles long. A lithium-ion battery fire occurred at SK Battery America’s commercial plant in Commerce, Georgia. The company, a supplier for electric and hybrid vehicle batteries, was fined by the U.S. Labor Department after workers suffered permanent respiratory damage following the October 2023 fire. Moss Landing residents have educated themselves about these previous fires, with the hope of learning more about the risks of the battery plant.
Never Again Moss Landing has collected environmental swab tests to determine the levels of heavy metals in the environment as a result of the fire. From the doorstep of the power plant to nearly ten miles away, community members brought home test kits and returned them to the community group. While the results of these tests are still being determined, researchers from San Jose State University have detected unusually high amounts of heavy metals in the soils of Elkhorn Slough Reserve, a protected area in Moss Landing. The community group has run into the challenge of connecting with academics who might be able to decipher the findings, considering wind direction, weather, and other environmental conditions.
Drawing from the community’s swab test findings, researchers at Hunterbrook Media, an investigative journalism outlet, found that nickel and cobalt concentrations are an average of 34 times higher within 20 miles of the power plant. In the visualizations below, it is possible to see the range of high heavy metal concentrations in and around Moss Landing. Research shows that chronic exposure to nickel could lead to adverse health impacts, including lung fibrosis, kidney disease, and cancer. Cobalt, another heavy metal, can lead to a range of negative health impacts on cardiovascular and neurological functions. While it is currently difficult to know the longterm health impacts of the fire, many residents are already experiencing symptoms.
Source: Hunterbrook Media
The community continues to wonder if Vistra has done its own testing, and whether the company will release the results. Additionally, the many corporate farms in Moss Landing and surrounding towns are not known to have tested their properties. A recent New York Times piece reported on the anxiety that nearby migrant farmworkers have as a result of the fire. One farmworker Maria Tarelo touched on the impact of the fire on both their health, and livelihoods. She said “Then we don’t have anything to pay for food or rent […] Sometimes, no matter the state of the environment, we have to go work.” This reality has, unfortunately, validated the importance of the Moss Landing community group taking matters into its own hands. With the community coming together in shared purpose, they have built strength in numbers and collected the information they need.
As the prospect of lithium-ion battery storage facilities continues to grow, Never Again Moss Landing is interested in connecting with other communities experiencing the same challenges. Across Santa Cruz County, including in nearby Watsonville, there are more battery facilities being planned. The demand for renewable energy continues to increase around the country, especially in California, and the state is rising to meet it. Never Again Moss Landing hopes to connect with community members in neighboring towns to share their experiences and knowledge, as well as build a united front. Members of communities and nonprofit organizations around the world have been reaching out to the Never Again Moss Landing group to share their stories and build connections around their experiences will battery storage facilities. In developing a network of communities around the world who have shared experiences and goals, there will be a louder voice for communities experiencing the same environmental injustices.
The community meeting closed with a call to action. Roeder stood at the microphone and told us they need us: concerned citizens to volunteer time and skills for the community group. Since then, the group has divided into different working groups based on thematic area, including fisheries and ocean health, human health impacts, and outreach. They need people to come together as a united front for the safety of the people and environment in Moss Landing. Closing out the event, the energy was high and channeled. Never Again Moss Landing has brought neighbors together in a shared purpose, to protect their homes, families, and community. What comes next for this group will be decided in weeks to come, as they continue to grow in numbers and learn their power as newfound activists.
Find more information about the Never Again Moss Landing group and how to get involved at: https://neveragainmosslanding.org/.
Resources to learn about lithium-ion battery storage facilities:
- Frequently Asked Questions about Community-Level and Large-Scale Battery Energy Storage
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Maggie a PhD student in Stanford University's E-IPER Program (short for Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources) is interested in gender and intergenerational equity in marine resource management in Tanzania, Kenya, and Italy. Through exploring access to resources, well-being, and transforming sense of place, she studies the motivations behind and challenges to diverse participation in local marine governance, as well as opportunities for encouraging inclusion. Through storytelling, she aims to share her research and other stories that center the complexity of human-environment relationships.
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