Keeping Families Safe

You only have to look southward at the flames and poisonous smoke that came from Moss Landing recently to know what deregulation looks like.

We have a new president promising to deregulate industry and make America more profitable. But at what expense?

The Moss Landing fire is terrifying, not just because it can’t be put out, but because the hazardous chemicals coming from it are landing on the country’s richest agricultural salad bowl and the surrounding protected Elkhorn Slough and Marine Sanctuary.

It’s a serious quandary. On one hand, the battery units are designed to store solar and wind energy and move away from fossil fuels, an environmentalist’s dream. On the other hand, chemicals in the batteries are so toxic and unstable, there is no way to quench them when they burst into flames, which has happened four times already.

Why should we care? There are three more of these units proposed in Santa Cruz County near hospitals and schools. One across the street from Aptos High; another near Dominican Hospital and a third in Watsonville.

Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church noted that the Moss Landing battery operation by Vistra Energy was approved with no arguments.

“When I took office two years ago, I accepted several tours of the Vistra facility, including a tour inside the building that burned,” he wrote. “The facility and its safety systems appeared impressive. I was personally given the guarantee that a fire similar to the one that occurred in 2022 at the neighboring PG&E/Tesla operation could not happen at Vistra. We know that is not true. This disaster is worse.”

He added: “With this being the fourth fire incident in a little over five years in Moss Landing, it is obvious that this technology is ahead of both government’s ability to regulate it and private industry’s ability to control it…

“…Both battery storage facilities initially passed the county permit process, including public hearings, with little to no opposition. Vistra got its first permit in 2020. It was approved by the Planning Commission and never appealed to the Board of Supervisors. It was that uncontroversial at the time.”

Conclusion? We don’t need deregulation, we need careful, intelligent study and regulation. And we need the public to speak up and make their representatives put safety first.

Let’s congratulate Cabrillo College’s Ethics Team, which was one of only two community college teams to make it to the nationals. They have been up against the likes of Stanford and they are now in the Super Bowl of the competition. That’s an amazing feat in learning how to deal with complex issues and moral problems. We salute you!

Read the background from a team member in this issue.

Write us at [email protected]

Thanks for reading.

Brad Kava,
Editor and Publisher