A group of researchers says they have found high concentrations of heavy metals in a California estuary near the site of a major fire that destroyed a battery storage facility south of San Francisco earlier in January.
San Jose State University-affiliated researchers from the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories detected substantially higher-than-usual concentrations of chemicals like nickel, cobalt and manganese in the Elkhorn Slough, a large intertidal area approximately one mile away from the Vistra Energy battery storage facility that caught on fire on Jan. 16. The investigators say they observed concentrations of the metals that are between 10 and 100 times higher than typical levels in the Elkhorn Slough, raising concerns that the blazes may have caused more environmental damage than initially indicated.
“Those three metals are toxic,” Ivano Aiello, a professor of marine geology who led the sampling process, told Mercury News. “They are hazardous to aquatic life. We want to understand how they will move and interact with the environment, whether they will make it through the food web and at what level — from microbes to sea otters.” (RELATED: California Authorities Issue Evacuation Orders After World’s Largest Battery Plant Catches Fire)
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“We know these particles are toxic,” Aiello told Mercury News. “They are heavy metals. Whether they are posing a hazard right now, we don’t know. But we need to know. I live here. I work here. Let’s figure it out.”
Aiello told the outlet that he took samples from about 100 different sites, and that he has studied the region for more than a decade.
The fire broke out on the afternoon of Jan. 16, and burned for about two days until there was not much left of the Vistra facility because lithium ion battery fires are highly difficult to extinguish via conventional means, according to local news outlet KRON 4. The blazes kicked up a large cloud of smoke and forced the temporary evacuations of more than 1,000 people and prompted officials to close a nearby stretch of Highway 1 for about three days.
The Monterey County Health Department is aware of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, but it had not yet reviewed the researchers’ data as of Tuesday morning, a spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“We are grateful for and recognize the importance of the environmental sampling and testing conducted by Dr. Ivano Aiello’s team and commend their diligence in reporting their results. Public health and environmental safety remain our top priorities, and we are committed to providing transparent, science-based updates to the community as we assess the findings in collaboration with our state and federal partners,” reads a Monday update from the Monterey County Health Department. “The County of Monterey Environmental Health is currently analyzing soil and water samples and working closely with experts from the California Department of Public Health, the California Environmental Protection Agency, and state epidemiologists. Together, we will evaluate the research, assess any potential health concerns, and determine the appropriate steps moving forward. We hope to provide preliminary results sometime later this week.”
Local residents are also collecting their own samples and plan to send them in for independent testing, according to Hunterbrook Media, an investigate journalism outlet that sometimes shares its reporting with Hunterbrook Capital to use for investing purposes. Hunterbrook Capital did not take any financial positions related to its piece on the Vistra fire, but the outlet says it is in contact with law firms to explore a possible class action lawsuit on behalf of residents impacted by the incident.
Multiple locals told Hunterbrook Media that they noticed symptoms like a sore throat, irritated eyes, headaches and nosebleeds following the fires, with some reporting that they felt better once they physically left the vicinity of the fire. Others say they noticed their pets wheezing, while one local said that one of his chickens dropped dead after the fires.
Moreover, the Vistra battery storage facility that burned down is located in California’s Salinas Valley, a region commonly referred to as “America’s Salad Bowl” because of the large volumes of fruits and vegetables produced there, according to Hunterbrook Media.
Vistra maintains that “ongoing air monitoring has not detected anything hazardous” and that the fire has not had any impacts on the community’s crops, livestock or land, citing the fact that the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a third-party company did not detect hazardous chemicals in the air during the incident. However, the findings of Aiello and his team may undermine the certainty of that conclusion, and some locals have claimed that they have had respiratory problems in the days following the fire.
Meanwhile, Vistra Energy is moving ahead with plans to build another battery storage facility near Terra Bella, California, as of Monday, according to The Business Journal.
The California EPA, U.S. EPA, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and Vistra Energy did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
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