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Despite much chatter on social media following the fire at the Vistra Energy lithium battery plant in Moss Landing on Jan. 16, San Benito County Public Information Officer Rosemerry Dere said that there have been no confirmed reports of anyone in the county being treated for exposure to the chemicals and waste released into the atmosphere.
“I know many people said, ‘I felt this, and my eyes were watery, and my throat hurt, and I could taste the smell of metal,’” she said, “But, despite us encouraging them to seek medical attention so we could document it, nobody came in for that.”
Mallory Schmitt, epidemiologist and spokesperson for the San Benito County Public Health Department, confirmed the lack of reports, saying, “We don’t have anybody who came into our healthcare system with documented health care issues related to the fire.”
Dere said continued air quality monitoring did not indicate any cause for concern.
“All particulate matter came up clear,” she said, “and the hydrogen fluoride levels were all under the detectable range throughout the incident. As far as way over here in San Benito County, our numbers looked really good.”
Since the fire, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Monterey Bay Air Resources District, and Vistra have found similar results in the air quality near the plant, reporting that no levels of hydrogen fluoride exceeded the acute “Reference Exposure Level” of 300 parts per billion at the site of the fire and in the surrounding community.
The level indicates the highest concentration that someone can be exposed to for one hour without an increased risk of serious health impacts.
San José State University’s Moss Landing Marine Laboratories has been conducting soil tests within a radius of approximately two miles from the power plant. In a statement released on Jan. 27, the university reported the lab had discovered “a dramatic increase in marsh soil surface concentration (hundreds to thousand-fold) of the three heavy metals nickel, manganese and cobalt.”
Though the results have not been finalized, the County of Monterey released preliminary statistics from a raft of tests conducted on Jan. 24 by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, indicating that the amounts of these contaminants are mostly within safe levels.
Studies of the amount of cobalt, lithium, asbestos, and volatile chemicals near the site have been conducted with results still pending. The San José State University study also has not been finalized.
Dere said she was unaware of any similar soil studies being done in San Benito County.
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