EDITOR’S NOTE: Were Air Monitors Deployed Soon Enough? This is the EPA announcement on air monitoring after the lithium battery storage plant fire in Moss Landing, released Jan. 16
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On Jan. 20, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concluded supplemental air monitoring in the vicinity of the Vistra Energy battery power storage facility fire in Moss Landing.
Results for hydrogen flouride and particulate matter showed no risk to public health throughout the incident, and smoke from the facility has greatly diminished. The EPA demobilized air monitoring operations after consultation with the Monterey County Incident Command for the Vistra fire.
EPA began monitoring for hydrogen flouride, a highly toxic gas produced by lithium-ion battery fires, and for particulate matter after the fire began on Jan. 16. The request for air monitoring came from Monterey County.
As part of the multi-agency emergency response, EPA installed a total of nine monitoring stations shortly after the fire started. Two monitoring stations were located at the facility and four just outside the facility, including one at Moss Landing.
Three monitoring stations were located in communities due east of the fire, to the south near Castroville, and to the north in the vicinity of Moss Landing Middle School. Monitoring stations were sited to account for changes in wind direction and potential drift to nearby communities.
EPA’s monitoring showed concentrations of particulate matter to be consistent with the air quality index throughout the Monterey Bay and San Francisco Bay regions, with no measurements exceeding the moderate air quality level. Hydrogen flouride gas was measured at one second intervals and there were no exceedances of California’s human health standards.
In addition to EPA’s monitoring, Vistra Energy brought in a third-party environmental consultant with air monitoring expertise, right after the fire started, to conduct roaming and fixed air monitoring in communities.
Air monitoring stations have been installed where EPA’s stations had been located to continue air monitoring as the response progresses. An air monitor location map is located at the County’s incident website.
Information is posted at: www.readymontereycounty.org/emergency/2025-moss-landing-vistra-power-plant-fire.
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Editor’s follow up: “Boring Jeff,” host of KSCO Driver’s Seat car talk show, who lives four miles from the lithium plant, says air monitors were posted in the wrong location, near Hwy 1, when a dark cloud of emissions was above Watsonville. He says drones should have been used to take samples, and sooner, on Jan. 15.
Photo Credit: Alekz Londos