EPA and Vistra near agreement to remove burned Moss Landing battery modules; county says sampling and risk analysis will continue

Federal and private agencies are moving toward a legally binding order to remove burned lithium-ion battery modules and structural debris from the July 16, 2025, fire at Vistra Energy's Moss Landing 300 MWh battery facility, Monterey County officials said during a July 8 board briefing.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Vistra have been negotiating an administrative settlement agreement and order on consent (ASAOC) under federal CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act) authorities that will require Vistra and its subsidiaries to perform and pay for the battery-debris removal. The county expects that the ASAOC will be executed in the coming weeks; EPA and contractor VISTA (Vistra's response contractor) have been finalizing plans, procedures and contracts for module removal, off-site transport and disposal.

Scope and sorting protocol: County presenters said the ML300 building contained 98 racks and nearly 100,000 battery modules with a total palletized battery weight of about 19.6 million pounds (19,572,168 pounds). Vistra and EPA have developed a five-category sorting approach to classify removed modules by damage level and water or heat exposure:

- Type 1 (estimated ~35% of inventory): modules with no apparent functional damage but externally (and possibly internally) contaminated; removed…