Moss Landing Vistra Battery Fire Response

We are committed to doing our work with respect for the Moss Landing community and local stakeholders. Transparency and community engagement throughout the process are central to our approach.

Since the January 2025 fire in Moss Landing, EPA has been on-site providing technical assistance in the planning and preparation for battery removal. We are working to ensure that Vistra safely removes and disposes of batteries impacted by the fire.

• Administrative Record
• Work Highlights
• Community Safety
• Background and EPA’s Involvement
• What is Each Agency’s Role in the Fire Response?
• Battery Treatment, Transport & Disposal
• Completed Activities
• Documents

Administrative Record

Moss Landing Administrative Record available for public comment until October 15, 2025

• The Administrative Record contains documents that justify EPA directing response activities at the site.
• Public comments on the Administrative Record will be accepted from September 15 through October 15, 2025.
• Please email comments to Hiruni Jayasekera, Community Involvement Coordinator at jayasekera.hiruni@epa.gov.
• The Administrative Record is available online.
• A paper copy of the Administrative Record can be found at:
  Castroville Branch Library
  11160 Speegle St.
  Castroville, CA 95012
  Please call for current hours of operation: (831) 769-8724.

Work Highlights

September 29, 2025

On September 29, 2025, workers began removing the first set of batteries from the Moss Landing 300 building. This marks a major milestone in the battery removal process.

A significant focus the past few months has been to ensure battery removal is safe and efficient (pdf). For weeks, teams have practiced safe battery removal handling and processing procedures. This was done while limited demolition and building stabilization happened.

• Battery removal for most of 2025 will focus on “intact” batteries. This means batteries with no damage or minor damage from the fire.
• Workers will de-energize these batteries and transfer any remaining energy back into the local electrical grid.
• We will continue to keep the community updated as each phase of battery removal process is completed.

See our Community Involvement Plan for more information on the battery processing process.

As with all work, we are ensuring strict health and safety requirements, and best practices are always followed.

September 16, 2025

We are committed to transparency. To share information on this project, we have developed the  Moss Landing Battery Fire Community Involvement Plan (pdf) (4.25 MB, September 16, 2025) .

• To create the plan, we interviewed 17 community members, local officials, organizations, and other stakeholders.
• The interviews and other research helped us identify information gaps and things to keep in mind as we share information and engage the community throughout this project.
• We developed and will implement the plan with support from Vistra.

Many thanks to the Monterey community members who volunteered to be interviewed. Your thoughtful, heart-felt contributions were the basis for this plan and we appreciate your openness to share with us.

July 17, 2025

On July 17, 2025, EPA entered into an agreement with Vistra to remove damaged batteries from its property.

• The agreement covers the battery removal preparation and planning work that Vistra has been doing voluntarily and future work.
• Building stabilization and demolition planning is underway to safely access the batteries.
• All battery removal work will be done under our close oversight. We are coordinating with Monterey County throughout.

Community Safety

Community safety throughout the project is our priority. Batteries damaged in a fire may be unstable and could catch fire again during work. We are overseeing Vistra as they take these safety steps:

1. Constant air monitoring and sampling around the property.
2. Keep a 24/7 private firefighting company on-site out of an abundance of caution. The company will be able to respond right away and coordinate with the local fire department if a fire starts.
3. Maintain an EPA-approved emergency response plan.

For more information on the battery removal process, see our Battery Treatment, Transport, and Disposal section.

Background and EPA’s Involvement

• On January 16, 2025, the Moss Landing 300 battery energy storage system at the Moss Landing Vistra power plant (Monterey County, Calif.) caught fire.
  • The 300-megawatt system held about 100,000 lithium-ion batteries.
  • About 55 percent of the batteries were damaged by the fire.
• Local agencies immediately requested our support for air monitoring. EPA deployed to the scene and did air monitoring January 17-20.
• The State of California also requested we oversee the battery removal process.

Learn More: Updates on EPA’s Response

What is Each Agency’s Role in the Fire Response?

EPA

• Oversee the safe removal of batteries from the property. Our oversight applies to:
  • activities within the fence line of the property, and
  • preparation of the batteries for transport to recycling or disposal facilities.
• Ensure transparency and community engagement throughout the battery removal work.
• Provide technical assistance to Vistra for battery:
  • removal,
  • transport,
  • recycling and disposal, and
  • closely coordinate with local and state governments to ensure information sharing, consistency and efficiency.

Vistra

• Respond to fire damage and safely remove damaged batteries. All work is being done under federal and state oversight.
• Vistra will perform and pay for the removal of the impacted lithium-ion batteries from the site under EPA’s oversight.
• Submit detailed work plans to EPA, implement comprehensive safety measures to protect nearby residents and workers during the cleanup process, and participate in community involvement activities to enable meaningful community engagement throughout the removal process.

State and Local Government

• Oversee all activities:
  • outside the property fence line, and
  • on the property that are not related to battery removal.

Monterey County Health Department

• Learn more about response activities in the community at the Monterey County website.

State of California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA)

• Collaborate with Monterey County on outside of the fence activities, such as community sampling.
• Coordinate with EPA on inside-the-fence activities.