Vista signs agreement with EPA to begin cleanup at Moss Landing battery plant

Vistra Corp has entered an agreement with the feds to begin clean up in Moss Landing, where their battery storage facility went up in flames earlier this year.

But the agreement doesn’t ease the minds of some people in Moss Landing. They feel unsupported as they continue to deal with fallout from the fire.

"We will do as much as possible to prevent further impacts to the community," said Kazami Brockman with the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA announced Wednesday -
Vistra Corp signed an agreement with them to pay for and handle the battery removal and disposal at their plant.
And if they fail to meet federal standards, the EPA will step in and take over cleanup.

The group Never Again Moss Landing, formed after the January fire to advocate for safety, has little trust in the EPA.

“Their air monitoring was totally insufficient. They were testing air at this level, maybe a little higher. And saying that there's no problem with hydrofluoric gas. Since hydrofluoric gas is lighter than air. You're not going to get it at this level. So I'm not real confident that the epa is on my side,” said Tonya Rivera with Never Again Moss Landing.

The EPA, however, projects a positive relationship with the community.

"EPA has tasked Vistra with writing a community involvement plan to ensure meaningful community engagement throughout the entire battery removal process," said Brockman.

Tonya Rivera said Never Again Moss Landing has been trying to have a meaningful sit down with the EPA and Vistra since January, but only got a half-hearted meeting last month.

She said she thinks Vistra and the EPA are actively keeping the public in the dark.

“When they tell you that there's nothing to worry about, but the people that go in there are wearing hazmat uniforms, suits, and respirators, there's a problem," said Rivera.

And she wants answers.

"We don't know what's in the ash. The ash has been sitting there since January, and it would be very simple to just give us that information. That data is there. They know what's in the ash. They can have it analyzed and bring it out," she said.

She said the building should have been tented since the beginning, and that wind has been picking up the ash and polluting Moss Landing.

Vistra is beholden to safety measures in the new agreement: constant air monitoring around the property and a private firefighting company on site at all times.

But Rivera says Vistra and the EPA have a long way to go to earn back her trust.

"The industry is allowed to police themselves. They're still making an insane amount of money and not doing not doing anything for the community that they're going to."

The first step in the clean-up process, planned for the coming weeks, is stabilizing the building that burned. It's been inaccessible since January.

Inside sit around 100,000 battery modules, each of which are a couple hundred pounds. Most of them are burned.
Once the building is stable, Vistra will go in and start taking those to an offsite disposal.