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Monterey County details phased cleanup and months-long recovery after Moss Landing battery fire
Summary
County officials said the response to the Jan. 16 Moss Landing lithium-ion battery fire has moved toward recovery but emphasized ongoing risks, continuing monitoring, and multi-agency debris-removal planning that could last a year or more.
Monterey County officials gave supervisors a detailed update March 18 on the response and transition to recovery after the Jan. 16 fire at the Moss Landing battery energy storage facility, saying environmental testing, community health surveys and phased debris work are under way but that site risks remain.
County staff said the initial focus has been stabilizing the site, protecting the public and collecting environmental data to support a longer-term cleanup. "Since our presentation...we have actively been working with the public health assessment team to conduct environmental monitoring and sampling, both inside and outside of the fence line," Kelsey Scanlon, county emergency manager, told the board.
The presentation said site work will proceed in phases that overlap: reducing risk of battery reignition, structural stabilization and removal of debris, then site cleanup and regulatory signoffs. County staff said an early round of "battery delinking"—separating accessible energy storage modules from racks—was completed Feb. 22; additional delinking and staged removal remains planned. "Our priority is safety of the personnel on-site as well as safety of the…
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