Fire Re-ignites at Moss Landing 300 MW Battery Storage Facility

MOSS LANDING, Calif., September 18, 2026 — Early this morning, the troubled Vistra Energy 300 MW battery storage facility in Moss Landing once again erupted into flames, sending toxic plumes into the sky and renewing public health fears across Monterey County.

This latest incident comes less than two weeks after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Vistra Corp. publicly announced the initiation of the cleanup's final phase. That phase was specifically intended to handle, de-energize, and remove severely damaged, unstable lithium-ion batteries under heightened safety protocols.

Instead, local residents are being told to shelter in place as emergency crews again are unable to contain yet another thermal runaway event at the site. The stated response of authorities is to let the fire “burn itself out”.

Adding to community alarm is what is actually contained within the thick plume of smoke, as documented by community organization Never Again Moss Landing (NAML) through independent environmental testing and volunteer sampling:

• Toxic Heavy Metals: Surface and soil testing conducted by NAML and academic researchers revealed sharp increases in heavy metals deposited by thermal runaway smoke. Surface residue samples showed spikes in nickel and cobalt up to 180 times (18,000%) background levels, as well as significant elevations in manganese and lithium. Research shows that exposure to these airborne particulate metals poses severe carcinogenic, respiratory, and neurological risks.

• Corrosive Acids & Gases: Beyond standard carbon monoxide, lithium-ion battery fires release highly reactive gases, most notably hydrogen fluoride (HF). When HF mixes with moisture in the air or human mucous membranes, it forms hydrofluoric acid—a highly corrosive compound that causes deep tissue burns, severe eye/skin irritation, and acute respiratory damage. • Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): NAML’s independent laboratory testing identified airborne toxins overlooked in initial agency air monitoring, including PFAS ("forever chemicals"), dioxins, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). High-temperature combustion of fluorinated binders and plastics within the battery modules generates these persistent pollutants, which settle into local soils, water bodies, and agricultural lands.

• Repeated requests to the EPA for sampling of the massive burn pile have gone unaddressed.
This contamination data has been directly corroborated by independent research conducted by scientists with the EMBER (Estuary Monitoring of Battery Emissions and Residues) project. Researchers from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML), UC Santa Cruz, and the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve identified a concentrated surface layer of battery-cathode fallout—specifically nickel, cobalt, and manganese—deposited across surrounding marsh soils immediately following the fire. Lead researchers like Dr. Ivano Aiello noted surface heavy-metal concentrations up to 1,000 times higher than pre-fire baseline levels. EMBER’s scientists explained that state and corporate sampling missed this contamination because deep-soil core sampling (digging several inches down) diluted the thin millimeter-scale ash layer, whereas rapid, micro-surface sampling captured the true, highly concentrated toxic profile carried by the fire's smoke.

While official agencies often characterize thermal runaway smoke in terms of generic "particulate matter", NAML's data demonstrates that the smoke carries a complex mixture of heavy metal particulates, corrosive acid gases, and persistent chemical carcinogens.

"How many times must our community absorb the toxic costs of corporate negligence and regulatory failure before genuine action is taken?" said a spokesperson for Never Again Moss Landing. "Vistra and the EPA promised us that this phase would feature strict monitoring, state-of-the-art encapsulation, and total control. Today’s fire proves their risk mitigation plans are public relations spin."

A Pattern of Systemic Failure

Never Again Moss Landing condemns Vistra Corp., its contracted site handlers, and the EPA for an oversight regime that continues to put nearby families, agricultural workers, and the fragile Elkhorn Slough ecosystem at risk.

The Illusion of EPA Oversight: Despite assurances that federal oversight under CERCLA would guarantee safety during building demolition and compromised battery handling, weak EPA oversight has failed to prevent a predictable reignition during handling operations.

Contractor & Corporate Negligence: As the responsible party, Vistra and its contractors have demonstrated an inability to safely stabilize damaged nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery architecture. Proceeding with removal without adequate containment strategies is unacceptable recklessness. Letting it burn itself out is not a solution to a very significant public health threat.

Ongoing Community Harm: This fire is releasing hazardous airborne pollutants, including toxic heavy metals and corrosive gases, while toxic runoff continually threatens surrounding habitats and farmlands. It is astonishing that in the 20 months since the original fire, the necessary steps were not taken to prevent reignition.

Never Again Moss Landing demands the following actions immediately:

An Immediate Work Stoppage: A total suspension of all demolition and battery removal operations until an independent, third-party safety panel reviews site protocols.

Independent Air & Water Monitoring: Federal and local health agencies must deploy real-time, independent air quality monitors directly to downwind residential zones and provide immediate public transparency regarding toxic emissions.

Real-time Drone Monitoring: To address the critical gaps in state and federal air monitoring during thermal runaway events, Never Again Moss Landing (NAML) again demands the immediate mandatory deployment of specialized, real-time drone monitoring at Moss Landing and all Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) facilities. Agency monitoring has repeatedly relied on broad particulate metrics (PM2.5) while failing to sample for the true chemical signature of burning lithium-ion infrastructure. Under NAML's proposed safety framework, BESS operators must provide, maintain, and annually test on-site drones equipped to intercept active smoke plumes and extract precise air and moisture samples. Paired with immediate onboard or local spectrometer analysis, these drones would continuously measure for volatile hydrogen fluoride (HF) gas, vaporized cathode heavy metals (such as nickel, manganese, and cobalt), phthalates, dioxins, and furans, as well as ultra-fine hazardous aerosol particulates far below the generic 2.5-micron (2.5 ppm) threshold. This practical requirement will provide local emergency responders, public health agencies, and surrounding communities with instant, un-diluted chemical data that is essential to replacing corporate guesswork and distraction with hard science and ensuring real-time public protection during a disaster.

Full Corporate Accountability: State regulators and local authorities must hold Vistra Corp. financially and legally liable for all emergency response costs, long-term health impacts, and environmental remediation without passing burden to taxpayers or ratepayers.

"This community will not be treated as a sacrifice zone for experimental energy storage facilities and sloppy regulatory oversight," the advocacy group added. "It is time for the EPA and state authorities to stop coddling Vistra and start protecting human lives."

Briefing:

1. “Never Again Moss Landing” is a 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. Our website ishttp://www.neveragainmosslanding.org. Queries: info [at] neveragainmosslanding.org.

2. Our two Facebooks Groups were created in the immediate aftermath of the January 16th 2025 fire: a. Moss Landing Power Plant/Vistra Fire Symptoms b. (20+) Moss Landing Battery Plant Environmental Disaster Community Group | Facebook

3. With over 6500 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, CPUC, and other state agencies and authorities for their lack of response, fires at other battery plants, impacts upon pets and livestock, evidence 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 requested to monitor these sites which reflect widespread citizen responses to the fire and its aftermath. Additional information can be gathered at http://www.NeverAgainMossLanding.org/resources.

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 $48B. It operates as a integrated retail electricity and power generation company and is the largest competitive power generator in the U.S., operating a capacity of approximately 41,000 megawatts across a portfolio of natural gas, nuclear, solar, and battery energy storage facilities. The company was ranked the No. 1 polluter in the United States in the Political Economy Research Institute's (PERI) Greenhouse 100 Polluters Index, generating roughly 1.5% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Vistra opened its Moss Landing Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) facility in June 2021 with battery systems rated for a 20-year operational life—yet significant portions of the facility suffered catastrophic thermal runaway fires in under four years. Following multiple emergency incidents and safety failures since its launch, community concern remains focused on the long-term operational risks permitted at the site under its 20-year CPUC license.

5. The outcomes sought from this ongoing disaster 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 ongoing guidance to residents, businesses, medical and animal welfare facilities, and academic and educational organizations regarding testing protocols and treatment for the widespread and documented health issues related to this emergency. We are looking for guidance and information from the CA Dept. of Health, the CPUC, the CEC, the DTSC, and our state elected officials. To date, very little support has been shown outside of the efforts of county officials and it is our view that any such transparency and guidance have been woefully absent to date.

d. In addition to the ongoing and immediate yet unaddressed needs for assessment and testing of the 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, dioxins, and other toxic chemicals emanating 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. e. 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.

f. 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.

g. 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.


About Never Again Moss Landing

Never Again Moss Landing is a locally created, citizen-led, all-volunteer group facilitating community awareness and response to the Moss Landing/Vistra BESS plant fire. We are dedicated to protecting human health, local agriculture, and coastal ecosystems from unsafe industrial energy infrastructure both locally and elsewhere.


[Top photo credit: CAL FIRE]