Nature Preserve Poisoned After California Lithium Battery Facility Catches Fire, Scientists Say

A recent fire at one of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery storage facilities poisoned a vital nature reserve in Northern California.

High levels of nickel, manganese, and cobalt were found in the soil within 2 miles of the Vistra Moss Landing Power Plant and Energy Storage Facility, KQED reported, citing measurements taken by scientists at San Jose State University. Those heavy metals were found in soil samples shortly after the facility caught fire on January 16.

The fire burned for several days, NBC Bay Area reported, and noted that the increase in toxic metals related to baseline measurements that had been conducted prior to the fire. Initially, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under then-President Joe Biden, along with local authorities, claimed the fire at the energy storage facility released no toxins.

Local officials said they didn’t detect higher levels of pollutants, KQED reported, and a company hired by the power facility also found no evidence of heightened toxic metals. A Facebook group of nearly 3,000 people in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, however, contains allegations that people are suffering from headaches, sore throats, nausea, and other conditions they believe are linked to the fire.

Dr. Ivano Aiello, the chair of San José State’s Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, told KQED that his lab tested soil within two miles of the Elkhorn Slough nature preserve and found that samples from around 100 locations showed concentrations of three toxic heavy metals hundreds of times higher than before the fire. He noted that the fire caused the increase in findings because the heavy metals were only found in the top layer of soil, suggesting they were recent.

“They are clearly the type of material from a battery, so you can link directly the occurrence increasing of this toxic heavy metal to the source, which is a battery,” he told the outlet. “The line of evidence from a scientific perspective is pretty solid. There’s no other explanation as to why before the concentrations were much lower and now are much higher, and those elements are linked to those nanoparticles.”

Though local outlets have covered the story, it has not received national attention, possibly because the facility was used to store solar power during the day and provide it to consumers in the evening. Had the facility been a nuclear power plant, the story would likely have become international news.

Today, however, the same voices who would otherwise oppose nuclear power for the threat it poses to crops and nature are silent about their preferred energy source causing damage to the surrounding area.