Earlier this year, the smoke plume that rose from a fire at the world’s largest battery facility in Monterey County hovered to the east over Elkhorn Slough and Hester Marsh.
Immediately, scientists from San Jose State University’s Moss Landing Marine Laboratories rushed to analyze soil and water samples and found dramatic increases in battery metals. Last week, that research was published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports.
The evidence shows that the Jan. 16 fire at the Vistra Moss Landing battery storage facility left a thin but widespread layer of toxic metals across the wetlands of Elkhorn Slough. According to SJSU, the study provides the first real-world evidence of metal fallout from a grid-scale battery fire.
MLML scientists were able to collect detailed soil data two years before the fire, allowing them to directly compare pre- and post-fire conditions.
“Because we already had baseline data and could respond immediately, we were able to spot a very thin layer of battery-related metals that traditional sampling would have completely missed,” said Ivano Aiello, lead author and chair of MLML. “Our field readings were later confirmed in the lab, and we are now tracking how these metals move through different habitats and how they may interact with organisms in the estuary.”
The massive fire lasted several days and prompted evacuations and air quality concerns. Several residents reported health impacts, resulting in multiple ongoing lawsuits.
The field surveys were conducted within a radius of approximately 2 miles from the power plant. The metals were confined to a shallow surface layer, and surface concentrations declined rapidly following precipitation and tidal inundation.
“The fallout’s thin, transient and patchy distribution would have eluded standard coring methods,” the study said, referring to the collection of cylindrical samples of soil and sediment. Battery metals were detected using a portable X-ray technology that is also used in mining exploration.
Battery metals found far from accident site
The metals found were nickel, manganese and cobalt, the same contained in the batteries that burned at high temperatures in the Vistra facility fire. The most significant contamination did not occur adjacent to the fire, but several kilometers downwind.
These studies confirm that when subjected to fire conditions, these batteries can emit airborne particles capable of traveling significant distances before settling onto the landscape, the study said.
The research highlighted the importance of rapid detection, and the quick movement of metals into wetland ecosystems.
“These findings underscore the need for adaptive environmental monitoring following battery fires and raise critical considerations for ecosystem protection and infrastructure as energy storage systems expand,”
Moss Landing Marine Laboratories report
“These findings underscore the need for adaptive environmental monitoring following battery fires and raise critical considerations for ecosystem protection and infrastructure as energy storage systems expand,” the study said.
There were several different groups conducting environmental tests after the fire. Data was gathered by the Monterey County Environmental Health Bureau, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Monterey Bay Air Resources District, Vistra Corporation, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, and Santa Cruz County’s Agricultural Commissioner and Environmental Health Division. The county has also received results collected by the citizen-led group called Never Again Moss Landing, which gathered over 120 surface wipe samples across the county.
All data available to Monterey County can be found online through a geo-located visualization map.