Erin Brockovich on Moss Landing battery fire: 'The truth's not coming out'

[Caribbeans]

Erin Brockovich on Moss Landing battery fire: ‘The truth’s not coming out’

Environmental activist played by Julia Roberts in hit movie says battery storage plants need more oversight

MercuryNews.com | March 9, 2025

Twenty-five years ago, Julia Roberts won an Oscar for the hit movie “Erin Brockovich.” She portrayed the real-life single mother of three who, as a paralegal, spearheaded a major lawsuit against PG&E for its years of polluting water supplies in the small Mojave Desert town of Hinkley, which residents said caused cancers and other health problems. PG&E settled the case for $333 million in 1996.

Today, Brockovich is still an environmental activist. She is working with a San Diego law firm representing residents of Moss Landing, a town in Monterey County where a battery storage plant owned by Vistra, a Texas company, burned Jan. 16, releasing smoke and toxic heavy metals. Vistra says subsequent tests of air, soil and water show no risks to public health. The fire has raised big questions about the future of battery storage in California as dozens more of the plants are planned to help expand solar and wind energy. This interview with the Bay Area News Group has been edited for length.

Q: When you first saw reports of the Moss Landing fire, what was your reaction?

A: I was thinking ‘Oh my, gosh, we’ve got Northern California on fire again.’ Then someone said ‘It’s a lithium battery storage fire.’ Over the course of the next few days, it was 20 emails, then 50 emails, then 80 emails, 90 emails.

Everyone was very concerned. They said: ‘The fire isn’t out.’ ‘Why is nobody talking about this?’ ‘We need to evacuate.’ ‘Now we can go home but we can’t go to school.’ ‘Keep your windows and doors closed.’ As time started going on, the concerns were headaches, nosebleeds, people from farms concerned that lithium is dangerous, and it could hurt their crops.

When you have dozens and dozens of people from the same location experiencing a situation at the same time, something’s wrong.

Q: You participated in a town hall meeting with Moss Landing residents shortly after the fire. What did you hear?

A: First and foremost, frustration. They weren’t getting information...more
https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/03/09/erin-brockovich-on-moss-landing-battery-fire-the-truths-not-coming-out/

"Citizens" are going to get BESS regardless of what they want. It's been decided.

Fire? "Let them close their windows" or "Batteries are Green!!!"

[SheltieLover]

1. Of course truth is being suppressed.

[CoopersDad]

2. I see Moss Landing from my house. I toured the Vistra plant in December.

I'm friends with county supervisors and local city council members and mayors, and I follow this story with interest.

I"ve been to Hinkley a few times, too, and followed the story of Chromium 6 pollution there and the actions against PG&E and treatment of residents.

I'm keeping out of the Moss Landing mess until more data comes in but knew instantly what had happened to the oldest battery unit on the Moss Landing site. Never stack thousands of batteries on racks in the same building, especially a very old repurposed turbine building not intended to store racks of lithium batteries.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/erin-brockovich-real-story-town-decades/story?id=78180219