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

A group of Monterey County residents filed a lawsuit in Alameda County against several companies for damages following the large fire at the Moss Landing Battery Plant on Jan. 16.

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.

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.

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.