Environmental Impacts From Moss Landing Plant Fire Still Unknown

Here are the morning’s top stories on Tuesday, February 11, 2025…

• The flames have died down at the Moss Landing battery storage plant in Monterey County, after a massive fire last month. But the environmental impacts may be just beginning. At the neighboring Elkhorn Slough, a sanctuary for endangered wildlife, researchers have found heavy metal concentrations up to a thousand times higher than before the fire.
• Starting Tuesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and US Army Corps of Engineers will begin removing fire debris from private properties that were damaged or destroyed in the January wildfires in Los Angeles.

Environmental Damage Could Be Long-Lasting From Moss Landing Fire

Last month,  a lithium-ion battery fire broke out at a plant in Moss Landing, just a few miles from Elkhorn Slough. Normally a sanctuary for endangered wildlife, researchers have been combing the slough for clues to the environmental impact of the fire.

Researchers have found unusually high concentrations of toxic heavy metals in surface soils at Elkhorn Slough Reserve in Moss Landing. A group at San Jose State University’s Moss Landing Marine Laboratories found levels of nickel, manganese, and cobalt that were hundreds to 1,000 times higher than baseline.

Ivano Aiello is a professor and chair at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where he’s analyzing soil samples from Elkhorn Slough. “I’ve never measured those metals in such high concentrations,” he said. Aiello has been monitoring the soil at the slough for over a decade. He’s now checking whether the metals are moving through the ecosystem, especially as the tides ebb and flow.

Currently the animals in Elkhorn Slough show no changes in behavior or numbers. But scientists are monitoring to see if, for example, the metals could make their way into those fat innkeeper worms, which feed at the bottom of the slough. And from there into the otters.

Debris Removal Progresses For LA Fires

Phase 2 of wildfire cleanup is starting this week in the Palisades and Eaton fire burn areas and will focus on the removal of damaged structures, trees and ash.

Phase 1, which has targeted hazardous material including solvents, pesticides, paint, propane tanks and lithium batteries, has been completed across 3,000 sites, according to Tara Fitzgerald, L.A. Wildfires Response Incident Commander with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Debris that can be reused, including wood, metal and concrete, will be sent to recycling facilities. Ash will be sent directly to landfills. Six inches of topsoil will be removed in addition to the ash in an effort to mitigate contamination. “ We found over many fire responses that that is an acceptable level of debris to remove to ensure that we get any of the hazards that may have fallen on the top soil as a result of the fire,” said  Colonel Eric Swenson from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.