After Toxic Monterey Battery Fire, These Scientists Watch Over a Fragile Ecosystem
A fluffy otter pup floats alone on the surface of Elkhorn Slough, waiting for its mother to return from a dive. It squeals in agitation, then quiets as she surfaces, holding a fat innkeeper worm in each paw.
The worms “basically just look like a giant hotdog,” said Isabella Rose, a naturalist with the Elkhorn Slough Safari boat tour operator. “And the otters really like to eat them.”
The southern sea otter is one of 16 threatened and endangered species that make their home in the slough, a protected wetland in the center of the Monterey Bay coast. It’s right next to the site where, last month, a 100-foot plume of fire destroyed one of the biggest battery storage sites in the world.
The cause of the fire at the Vistra Energy Storage Facility is still unknown. And so are its consequences for the sensitive ecosystem.
“They weren’t there [before],” said Aiello, who has been monitoring the soil at the slough for over a decade. “It’s that simple. I’ve never measured those metals in such high concentrations.”
Aiello is now working with a team of scientists to check whether the heavy metals, found in the lithium-ion batteries that burned, are moving through the tidal ecosystem.
“Some of it might actually move through the soil as the water percolates,” he said, “and potentially enter the food web.”
Monterey County Battery Fire Linked to Surge of Heavy Metals in Nature Reserve’s Soil
The animals in Elkhorn Slough have so far shown no changes in behavior or numbers. But scientists are monitoring to see whether the metals, for example, could make their way into those fat innkeeper worms, which feed at the bottom of the slough. And from there, into the otters.
Professor Dustin Mulvaney of San José State University, who researches the environmental impacts of batteries, pointed out that the heavy metals might also affect the local Amah Mutsun tribe, who have restored oysters to Elkhorn Slough.
“One concern I would have is for the Amah Mutsun,” Mulvaney said, “if they’re going to be eating those Olympia oysters at some point.”
A group of Moss Landing residents is suing three energy companies — Vistra Corp., which runs the facility, PG&E, which draws power from it, and LG Energy Solution, which installed the batteries — saying they experienced dizziness, skin irritation and other health symptoms after the fire. They say the Texas-based Vistra should have taken better safety precautions in the energy storage facility, which is somewhat of an outlier in that it was built inside an old gas power plant and the type of battery it used is becoming less common.
Vistra declined a request for an interview but said in a statement that it’s monitoring the air and that no hazardous levels have been detected.
The California Public Utilities Commission is investigating the cause of the fire and has issued new proposed safety standards for battery storage facilities.
“Batteries and fires have been a known issue,” Mulvaney said. “Our regulation and our ability to think through the impacts of new technology are sometimes a little bit behind the technology itself.”
Aiello and other scientists are continuing to collect and analyze samples from Elkhorn Slough and release data as it becomes available.
”We need to learn as much as possible,” Aiello said. “It’s an opportunity for society to learn more about whether this type of technology is the way we want to go.”
Citizens for Battery Transparency
Charlie Endris (left), a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) spatial analyst, and Ivano Aiello (right), a professor and department chair at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, test the soil for metal levels in Elkhorn Slough near the Moss Landing Power Plant in Moss Landing on Feb. 12, 2025. The power plant was the site of a battery fire on Jan. 16, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
Runoff from nearby farms carries excessive nutrients into Elkhorn Slough, which spurs the growth of thick mats of algae in January 2010. On Monday, scientists at San José State University said they found unusually high levels of nickel, manganese and cobalt in the Elkhorn Slough after the huge fire this month. (Brent Hughes/Sonoma State University)
For a thorough update, see https://www.neveragainmosslanding.org
Why Are We Concerned?
🔴 WILDFIRES
These projects are proposed to be sited within a high wildfire risk zone. Even a small fire in one of the battery containers of a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) could ignite a wildfire. Strong winds could easily spread fire across the 101 freeway and the Petaluma river.
Firefighters will need to have the training, resources, and immense quantities of water needed to suppress a difficult-to-extinguish fire and prevent a wildfire. The developers count on nearby wells to be working, water supply pipes from Petaluma to be intact, and for minimal onsite storage to handle any emergency. We need expert analysis of water requirements for any BESS or wildfire emergency.
🔴 TOXIC FUMES
A burning lithium-ion battery fire will release toxic hydrogen fluoride gas. A fire in even a small part of a BESS will emit clouds of toxic fumes which can spread far and wide.
🔴 POLLUTION
Lithium-ion fires are very difficult to extinguish. Controlling a fire can easily require hundreds of thousands of gallons of water which could runoff and contaminate the surrounding soil, the water table and nearby Adobe Creek which feeds into the Petaluma River.
🔴 SOME CAUSES OF BESS FIRES
System Failures - There are thousands of parts in each battery container of a BESS. A fire can be caused by defects in manufacturing, failure over time, or internal overheating.
Earthquakes - Seismologists state that the Rodgers Creek Earthquake Fault, which is within 2.5 miles of the two BESSs, has a thirty-one percent chance of a earthquake with severe shaking at the proposed project sites in the next thirty years. The San Andreas Fault, while farther away, has a a similar chance of a very serious earthquake in the same time period.
Wildfire or Extreme Weather - Large assemblies of Lithium-ion batteries can ignite from high ambient heat, or from being very moist internally or flooded. The developers have provided no testing of either type of possibility, ie, what might happen in event of a wildfire or of extremely heavy rain driven by unusually high winds.
Airport/Plane Crash - The Borealis BESS is located near the flight path of Petaluma Airport. The airport is already constrained by residential neighborhoods, sports fields with stadium seating, wetlands and bird hazards, all making it hazardous to land at Petaluma Airport. The Petaluma Airport is home to an airplane flight school and a helicopter flight school.
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