'A powder keg': Lawsuit claims TX co knowingly built dangerous battery plant at Moss Landing leading to major toxic fire

[Caribbeans]

Kim Solano, in the empty dining room of the Haute Enchilada restaurant in Moss Landing, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. On Thursday, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of Kim and Luis Solano, who own the Haute Enchilada restaurant and gallery in Moss Landing, which they have closed indefinitely due to a major drop in business after the Vistra battery storage plant fire. The couple also owns five vacation rental properties and say they have suffered cancellations and concerns about their health. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)

‘A powder keg’: Lawsuit claims Texas company knowingly built dangerous battery plant at Moss Landing, leading to major toxic fire

Mercury News | February 28, 2025

The Texas company that built a huge battery storage plant at Moss Landing that burned in a major fire last month, causing the evacuation of 1,200 people and the closure of Highway 1 for three days, rushed to build the plant and cut corners resulting in unsafe conditions, a lawsuit filed Thursday alleges.

One of the largest electricity providers in the United States, the company, Vistra, stacked 100,000 batteries in an aging concrete building at a former 1950s-era PG&E natural gas plant when it built the facility five years ago, and used a type of battery at higher risk for runaway fires than other available technologies, the suit says.

“It’s an environmental tragedy that didn’t have to happen,” said Joe Cotchett, a Burlingame attorney who filed the lawsuit. “Had Vistra done a proper job in storing these batteries properly this would have never happened.

“Had they set up a system for stopping any fire that could happen, this would have never happened,” he added. “There’s a combination of errors here.”

Officials for Vistra, based in Irving, Texas, said issued a statement in response...more
https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/02/27/a-powder-keg-lawsuit-claims-texas-company-knowingly-built-dangerous-battery-plant-at-moss-landing-leading-to-major-toxic-fire/

Moss Landing Burns Again—More Fires Expected
YouTube · StacheD Training 2 days ago

[Finishline42]

1. It's wasn't the batteries per se at fault...

“Had Vistra done a proper job in storing these batteries properly this would have never happened.

“Had they set up a system for stopping any fire that could happen, this would have never happened,” he added. “There’s a combination of errors here.”

Once again profit was at the top of the priority list, not safety. Just like Deepwater Horizon, somebody takes shortcuts to profits and the tech pays the price.