Never Again Moss Landing Calls for Citizen Action

On Saturday, February 8th at 12:30pm PST, community members will assemble and speak in the parking area to the rear of the Whole Enchilada Restaurant in Moss Landing, CA. 7904 CA-1, Moss Landing, CA 95039. Space is reserved for members of the media.

This is a citizen-organized event that will highlight impacts upon the surrounding community and actions being taken to address citizen concerns. Several speakers will present their observations and findings.

Briefing:

1. “Never Again Moss Landing” is a Fast-response grass-roots all-volunteer resident group which advocates for our community’s voice and interests in response to the Moss Landing BESS Fire. We believe that a disaster like this must never again occur. We coordinate local citizen efforts to organize and deploy facts that can restore our community’s environment, health, and welfare. We are not affiliated with any other governmental, business, or advocacy groups. Our website is http://www.neveragainmosslanding.org. Queries: info [at] neveragainmosslanding.org.

2. Our two Facebooks Groups were created in the immediate aftermath of the January 16th fire:
a. Moss Landing Power Plant/Vistra Fire Symptoms
b. Moss Landing Battery Plant Environmental Disaster Community Group

3. With over 4700 members there are thousands of individual entries at these two sites detailing personal medical impacts, anger at Vistra Corporation and its response, anger at the EPA and its lack of response, fires at other battery plants, impacts upon pets and livestock, fears of general contamination and environmental degradation, uncertainty about what has happened and continues to happen, and distrust of local, state and federal responses. Members of the media are kindly advised to monitor these sites which reflect widespread citizen responses to the fire and its aftermath.

4. Founded in 2016 out of the bankrupt reorganization of Texas Competitive Electric Holdings (TCEH), Vistra Corporation (VST) is a retail electricity and power generation company headquartered in Texas with a current market capitalization of over $57B. It has traded between $137 and $191 in the past month and closed at $168 a share on January 31st. The company is the largest competitive power generator in the U.S. with a capacity of approximately 39,000 megawatts powered by a diverse portfolio that includes natural gas, nuclear, solar, and battery energy storage facilities. It was ranked the No. 1 polluter in the United States for the 2024 Greenhouse 100 Polluters Index Report, producing 1.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions generated in the United States of America. Vistra opened the Moss Landing BESS facility in June 2021. There were two emergency mishaps reported at their facility prior to the 1.17.24 fire. The CPUC has granted Vistra a 20-year permit to operate at this location.

5. The outcomes sought from this event include:
a. The Moss Landing/Vistra BESS plant fire must be recognized as an unprecedented and extraordinary disaster for the Monterey Bay region and its residents. This fundamental reality must be shared and clarified locally, nationally, and internationally so that communities understand the scope and seriousness of this environmental and health crisis and its causes.
b. Legal, administrative, and oversight requirements must be identified and enacted so that a fire will never again occur at the Moss Landing BESS. The required facility standards for regulation and operation must be greatly strengthened. This facility must not be allowed to reopen until the community is satisfied that these requirements have been met.
c. Local elected officials and our community’s health, educational, and environmental departments need to provide transparency and immediate guidance to residents, businesses, medical and animal welfare facilities, and academic and educational organizations regarding testing protocols and treatment for the ongoing widespread and documented health issues related to this emergency. We are looking for guidance and information from the CA Dept. of Health, the CPUC, and our state elected officials. It is our view that such transparency and guidance have been woefully absent to date.
d. The EPA, FEMA, Dept. or the Interior, and NOAA need to immediately send personnel to measure and monitor air, soil, and water quality in the greater Monterey Bay Area.
e. In addition to immediate assessment and testing of impacts upon human, animal, and environmental health, long-term testing of our region must be developed and instituted. The effects of exposure to heavy metals and other toxic chemicals emanated from the burning of lithium batteries is unknown. Vistra must pay for these expenses which would be implemented and administered by government agencies, our educational institutions, and/or independent third parties.
f. Vistra must immediately be required to release its testing, monitoring, and remediation data including that of third party providers engaged by Vistra. The plant cannot reopen without such full and ongoing disclosures.
g. Dozens of large environmental, medical, corporate, agricultural, and community-action organizations are present in our community. These groups need to coordinate and collaborate their efforts in response to this disaster. Local government can play an important role in coordinating such efforts.
h. Finally, the media as representatives of the public, need to demand answers from Vistra to the many unanswered questions about how this disaster happened. Accountability cannot be replaced by complacency or uncritical acceptance of information being provided by Vistra and the Public Relations company FTI consulting (SC) Inc.


Never Again Moss Landing
We are a locally created, citizen-led, all-volunteer group facilitating community awareness and response to the Moss Landing/Vistra BESS plant fire.