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. They were trying as a community to do Zoom and just work together to try to find out what was going on. There were a lot of questions.
Q: What are your concerns about the fire?
A: I’m always concerned that somebody’s not being forthright. So you’re going to have to go dig and figure out what that is. I am concerned with lithium power storage facilities so close to farmland and so close to communities because these accidents happen.
There didn’t seem to be any preparedness. I’m definitely concerned about what the impacts are to people. When you have a fire of that origin, lithium is not good. It creates its own combustion. People were going to the emergency room, having respiratory problems, sore throats and getting no answers.
Every single situation seems to start like this. What concerns me is that it just feels like somebody knew. They did. They’ve got infrastructure inside there. Did they jerry rig something? Did they allow it to happen? The truth’s not coming out. So, my concern is that information is being concealed.
Q: Battery storage is considered critical to California reaching its renewable energy goals to reduce climate change. How should the state handle this issue going forward?
A: I’m concerned that in our quest to do something good, we’re not going to do it right. And then we’re going to have something bad — more fires. If you get fires like that in any Santa Ana wind condition, you could have a much larger, uncontrollable scenario.
The state is pushing through in haste, to hurry. They’re not going to catch their mistakes, and we’re going to have a bigger problem.
Q: It sounds like you’re not saying that California should ban the construction of new battery storage plants but that you want them built more safely?
A: Absolutely. Moving forward, this is going to be about infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure. This facility is in one of PG&E’s old places, which has failing infrastructure. I’ve dealt with that way too many times with that company.
I think all of us appreciate that we need to reduce our carbon footprint. Listen, climate change is already here.
But get your infrastructure in place first. Understand the nuances that are causing these lithium battery fires. They’re not just happening in California. I’m getting reports from all over the United States.
Q: Assemblywoman Dawn Addis, D-Morro Bay, has introduced a bill (AB 303) to ban companies from constructing new battery storage plants within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, businesses and hospitals. Critics say the bill could harm the state’s renewable energy efforts. What are your thoughts?
A: It’s definitely got to be a balance. We can have both. I’m glad that (AB 303) is introduced. We should look at it. So many of the places where they want to go have been there forever and already have a community built up around it.
They want to hook up to infrastructure that’s already there, and that’s probably aged-out and antiquated and going to fail, as opposed to building something new that’s away from farmland, tourism, public health and welfare.
Q: In Hinckley, with the case that made you famous, a lot of people suffered serious health impacts. Are we seeing that in Moss Landing?
A: The same thing that happened in Hinkley is happening in this entire region where the fire occurred. They’re not being heard. They’re not being listened to.
What happened in Hinkley was a cover-up. There’s no other way to say it. They knew. They covered it up. They told them it was chromium 3 and said it’s good for you. How do I know the same thing’s not going on up there? We’re going to find out.
Q: What lessons did you draw from your experience with PG&E back then?
A: When I began in Hinkley, I didn’t know everything I needed to know. I had to muster up some bravery, some courage to step out and say, ‘This is messed up. This is wrong. Can’t you look and see what’s happening here?’
I encourage young people, when they feel something’s wrong, to be able to step in front of it and say, ‘Something’s not right, we need to look at this.’ And oftentimes we won’t because we assume that some agency knows what’s going on, and they’re gonna fix it. I just don’t think we can make those assumptions anymore.
Asked about Brockovich’s comments, Vistra issued a statement:
“Air quality monitoring, which has been ongoing since the start of the fire and continues today, has been conducted by the U.S. EPA, Monterey Bay Air Resources District, and others and has not detected risks to public health at any time. Additionally, soil and water testing conducted by Cal EPA/Department of Toxic Substances Control, Monterey County, and Santa Cruz County have not detected risks to public water supplies or soil in the community. Moss Landing is not only home to our facility; it’s home to our employees and neighbors. We are committed to doing everything we can to do right by our community, and we continue to work in concert with federal, state, and local agencies to ensure public health and safety.”