Quick Summary: EPA Highlights Moss Landing Fire Risks as New Jersey Plans Storage Expansion
- In September 2026, Moss Landing’s battery site reignited, highlighting ongoing safety concerns — this serves as a critical lesson for New Jersey’s energy storage plans.
- The EPA reported that 55% of the site’s 100,000 lithium-ion modules were damaged in a 2025 fire — cleanup efforts are ongoing.
- Despite cleanup progress, unstable materials led to another fire — this incident raises questions about safety measures in New Jersey.
- Residents reported health issues during the 2025 fire — evidence of contamination challenges official reassurances.
- New Jersey is pushing for 2,000 megawatts of storage by 2030 — Moss Landing’s issues are a cautionary tale for this expansion.
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Moss Landing, California, a site once hailed for its energy innovation, now stands as a stark warning. The recent flare-up at Vistra’s battery facility, just days after the EPA celebrated a cleanup milestone, underscores the persistent dangers of lithium-ion technology. For New Jersey, which is eyeing a significant expansion in energy storage, this is a cautionary tale that cannot be ignored.
The Moss Landing site, which suffered a devastating fire in January 2025, saw 55% of its 100,000 lithium-ion modules damaged. Despite ongoing efforts to dispose of these remnants, September 2026 witnessed another self-ignition. This incident should resonate with New Jersey policymakers as they debate fire safety measures and accountability in their own energy projects.
The health concerns raised by Moss Landing residents, who reported symptoms like wheezing and headaches during the 2025 fire, are backed by scientific findings of elevated exposure levels. This discrepancy between official safety assurances and lived experiences is a critical issue for New Jersey’s energy ambitions.
As New Jersey aims for 2,000 megawatts of storage by 2030, with substantial investments already underway, the lessons from Moss Landing are timely. The state’s plans, including a proposed 500-megawatt facility, must incorporate rigorous safety protocols to prevent similar disasters.
Moss Landing’s enduring challenges highlight the need for vigilance in energy storage projects. New Jersey must heed these warnings to avoid repeating history, ensuring that innovation does not come at the cost of safety and public trust.
But CalMatters reported that residents described wheezing, coughing, headaches and eye irritation during the 2025 fire, while researchers at a recent symposium presented evidence of elevated exposure in hair samples. The Energy Storage Wire reported that battery removal had begun on September 29, 2025 under EPA oversight, with Phase 1 focused on accessible intact modules and Phase 2 on demolition and disposal of the burned sections.
EPA said the original January 16, 2025 fire at Vistra’s 300-megawatt Moss Landing battery facility damaged about 55% of the site’s approximately 100,000 lithium-ion modules, and that crews were only now starting to process the most severely damaged remnants for disposal. One NJBIZ report from April said New Jersey launched Phase 1 of its Garden State Energy Storage Program in 2025 with a goal of 2,000 megawatts of storage by 2030 and that the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is administering about $2 billion in battery-related projects.
Another NJBIZ report from March said a new state law extended the incentive-program deadline to December 31, 2026 and could add as much as 500 megawatts, while a July NJBIZ story said Atlantic City Electric has proposed a 500-megawatt battery facility in Salem County that it says could serve about 400,000 homes during peak demand. Yet even with that process underway, the site still had enough unstable, energized material left to self-ignite in September 2026, a fact that should resonate loudly in any New Jersey permitting debate over fire planning, isolation distances, monitoring and who pays when projects fail.
That flare-up matters because it happened just 10 days after the EPA declared a “huge milestone” in the cleanup and began the final demolition-and-removal phase on September 8, 2026. EPA Pacific Southwest Administrator Mike Martucci said, “The beginning of the final phase of battery removal at Moss Landing is a huge milestone,” but the renewed fire undercut any sense that the threat was fully contained.
North Monterey County Fire Chief Jess Cortez said the modules were in a “smoldering stage” and warned, “The incident is very dynamic. The surprising twist is that Moss Landing’s “lesson” is no longer just about what happened in January 2025; it is about what can happen more than a year later, during cleanup, after politicians and companies have moved on rhetorically but before the hazard is actually gone.
The health concerns raised by Moss Landing residents, who reported symptoms like wheezing and headaches during the 2025 fire, are backed by scientific findings of elevated exposure levels. Residents reported health issues during the 2025 fire — evidence of contamination challenges official reassurances.
The EPA reported that 55% of the site’s 100,000 lithium-ion modules were damaged in a 2025 fire — cleanup efforts are ongoing. But CalMatters reported that residents described wheezing, coughing, headaches and eye irritation during the 2025 fire, while researchers at a recent symposium presented evidence of elevated exposure in hair samples.
New Jersey is pushing for 2,000 megawatts of storage by 2030 — Moss Landing’s issues are a cautionary tale for this expansion. The Moss Landing site, which suffered a devastating fire in January 2025, saw 55% of its 100,000 lithium-ion modules damaged.
Despite ongoing efforts to dispose of these remnants, September 2026 witnessed another self-ignition. As New Jersey aims for 2,000 megawatts of storage by 2030, with substantial investments already underway, the lessons from Moss Landing are timely.
The scale and speed of this development has caught many observers off guard. Each new update adds another dimension to a story that is still unfolding, and the full picture will only become clear as more verified details emerge from the people and institutions directly involved.
Analysts who have tracked this issue closely say the current moment represents a genuine turning point. The decisions made in the coming weeks are expected to set the direction for months ahead, with ripple effects likely to extend well beyond the immediate actors in the story.
For those directly affected, the practical impact is already visible. People navigating this fast-changing situation are dealing with real consequences while new information continues to reshape what is known and what remains open to interpretation.
Historical parallels offer some context, though experts caution against drawing too close a comparison. Similar situations have played out before, but the specific combination of pressures, personalities, and timing here makes this moment distinct in ways that matter for how it ultimately resolves.
The political and economic dimensions of this story are deeply intertwined. What appears as a single event on the surface is in practice the convergence of multiple pressures that have been building quietly over a longer period than most public reporting has captured.