Vistra Energy, PG&E and other defendants face allegations of negligence following Moss Landing battery facility fire in new lawsuit

A business park in South San Jose. Jack London Square in Oakland. The San Diego waterfront. Next door to a high school in Santa Barbara County. Across California, large battery storage plants are being planned and constructed in dozens of locations at a pace faster than anywhere else in the United States.

After a massive lithium ion battery storage site exploded into flames in Monterey County — spewing toxic gases into the air and scattering heavy metals over the ground — residents have filed a lawsuit accusing multiple energy companies of failing to maintain adequate fire safety at the facility.

A lawsuit was filed Thursday on behalf of local residents impacted by the January 16 fire at the Moss Landing Power Plant. An inferno ignited inside a building that is part of

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.

A group of community members filed a lawsuit against Vistra Corp., a Texas-based company that owns the Moss Landing power plant and battery storage facility. The lawsuit demands a full investigation into what caused the fire on Jan.

Moss Landing residents have filed a lawsuit against Vistra Corp. and PG&E over the lithium-ion battery storage facility fire last month that triggered evacuations and environmental concerns in the area.