Moss Landing fire: Vistra and EPA reach battery cleanup agreement

MOSS LANDING — Six months after a fire broke out at Vistra’s battery plant in Moss Landing, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday it has reached an agreement with the company to remove and dispose of batteries impacted by the fire.

Under the agreement, which was signed last week, Vistra will be responsible for the removal of the damaged lithium-ion batteries under the EPA’s oversight. The damaged batteries pose an ongoing risk of fire, which was seen during a flare-up on Feb. 18, a little over a month after the original fire.

“I want to start by saying that I know this incident has had a big impact on the community and I sympathize with the community for all they’ve had to endure during and after the fire,” said Kazami Brockman, an on-scene coordinator for the EPA during a Monterey County press briefing Wednesday. “EPA has been working in close coordination with the county and the state to ensure we can address the concerns about each aspect of this incident.”

The batteries will be removed by Vistra and treated for safe transport and disposal or recycling, according to the news release. Vistra will be required to submit detailed plans to the EPA and implement comprehensive safety measures to protect workers and nearby residents throughout the cleanup process. The company is also required to participate in community activities to “enable meaningful public engagement throughout the removal process,” according to a news release.

If the cleanup isn’t performed to EPA’s standards, the agency has the authority to take over the cleanup and bill Vistra for the cost, said Brockman. Once all batteries are removed safely, oversight will be transferred to state and local authorities for any remaining on-site cleaning activities.

Vistra will be required to implement air monitoring and sampling around the plant site during removal activities. An EPA-approved emergency response plan will also be implemented in addition to Vistra continuing to have a private firefighting company on-site 24/7. Vistra may be required to complete additional air monitoring and air sampling at the EPA’s discretion.

The facility holds around 100,000 lithium-ion batteries, about 55% of which were damaged in the fire.

“We do anticipate this process to occur over a length of time as outlined, so it’ll be multiple months of effort there and this is just the initial phase,” said David Yeager, director of project development for Vistra.

Now that the agreement is official, Vistra will be able to enter parts of the building that have been inaccessible up to this point to conduct physical inspections of the systems in that portion of the Moss 300 building, according to Yeager.

“It’s been a very collaborative effort between the EPA in particular and all the other state and local agencies, just to have a very thoughtful plan put together that we can all agree to that does prioritize worker safety and environmental safety as we work toward this kind of complex removal process and multi-phased approach,” said Yeager.

Monterey County has a webpage dedicated to the latest updates regarding the fire. The response and removal process can also be tracked on the EPA  and Vistra websites.