Study Claims Fire at Planned CA Battery Plant Wouldn't Harm Public - Fire Engineering: Firefighter Training and Fire Service News, Rescue

Stephanie Zappelli
The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)
(TNS)

Sep. 26—A large fire at the proposed battery plant in Morro Bay would not cause “irreversible” or “long-lasting” health impacts to people living nearby, according to a March safety report commissioned by Vistra Corp., the Texas-based energy company that applied to build the facility.

But some Morro Bay residents aren’t convinced by the report and want a more comprehensive assessment.

Morro Bay Fire Department Chief Dan McCrain presented the study at the Morro Bay City Council meeting on Tuesday night.

The battery plant would either house lithium ion batteries in three Costco-warehouse-sized buildings or in 174 individual enclosures — enough to store 600 megawatts of electricity. Vistra Corp. owns the retired Morro Bay Power Plant property at 1290 Embarcadero, and the company applied to build the battery plant on a 24-acre corner of the site.

The study evaluated the amount of pollutants that would be released by an eight-hour fire at the battery plant, and how those pollutants would impact the facility’s neighbors, McCrain said. The study did not analyze how the fire would impact wildlife or the nearby estuary, nor did it evaluate how a flood, earthquake, tsunami or any other type of emergency would impact the facility and the surrounding community.

“This is not a comprehensive evaluation of all possible hazards,” McCrain said.

People who attended the meeting asked the City Council to order a more detailed safety analysis on the battery plant before moving forward with the project.

“There’s several important consequences of a fire which have not been evaluated,” Morro Bay resident Debbie Thoresen said.

Safety study says large battery fire wouldn’t endanger public

The city chose the independent engineering company DNV Energy USA Inc. to peer-review the safety study, McCrain said.

DNV Energy agreed that the battery plant “poses no significant risk to the health or safety of the community during a credible threat under worst-case conditions,” the company wrote in a letter to the city.

The original study was conducted by Ramboll, a global consulting company.

Ramboll scientists ran computer simulations and reviewed reports to determine what toxic chemicals would be released by a battery fire at the facility and how those chemicals would impact nearby residents.

The study evaluated two scenarios: if one block of batteries burned in one of the Costco-warehouse-sized buildings for eight hours, or if one of the 174 enclosures in the alternative design burned for eight hours.

The study analyzed a “maximum credible fire event,” which assumed that the wind would blow the fumes toward the homes closest to the battery plant, people living in those residences would remain outside for the entire emergency and that there would be no evacuations. The study also assumed that fire prevention measures built into the facility would fail, and it did not evaluate the impact of firefighting activities on the blaze.

Both of the hypothetical fires would emit hydrogen flouride, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide.

However, neither fire would release enough toxins to create “irreversible or other long-lasting” health effects to the public based on standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, McCrain said.

A fire in the enclosure design would emit fewer pollutants than the original design, he said.

“Carbon monoxide, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen chloride — those are all present in a regular residential structure fire, a vehicle fire, commercial structure fire — they’re just in different quantities based on what fuel load is in those things,” McCrain said.

Cayucos resident Rachel Wilson questioned the type of wind patterns Ramboll used in the study. She said they were not specific to Morro Bay.

McCrain explained that the report looked at the worst-case wind scenario for a fire, not the most common winds.

“Even though our natural winds might go in a certain direction,” he said, the study evaluated winds that would blow the toxins directly at nearby residences, McCrain said.

“Other evaluations looking at evacuation distances, firefighting tactics, things like that, would absolutely take into account the actual (wind speed and direction) and meteorological conditions here in Morro Bay,” he said.

Residents ask for more detailed safety study

Numerous Morro Bay residents who spoke at public comment were not satisfied with the safety study.

Morro Bay resident Debbie Thoresen asked the city to evaluate how a flood, earthquake or systems failures at the plant would impact people’s health and the environment. She also wanted to know how contaminated water from firefighting activities would affect the bay and estuary.

“If any of this water was to run into the bay, it would most certainly negatively affect the area sea otters and other sea life of the bay,” she said.

Councilmember Cyndee Edwards wanted to know how firefighting activity would affect the blaze, and how firefighters would handle the fire.

McCrain said the Fire Department will form a plan for firefighting at the battery plant when they have a better understanding of the technology.

“It’s constantly changing,” McCrain said. “A year from now, the recommended tactics might be different as technology changes.”

Eventually, the city will develop a site safety plan, a hazard mitigation plan, evacuation and shelter in place procedures, and standard operating procedures for the Fire Department, he said.

What’s next for the battery plant?

Vistra Corp. must clear three hurdles to get the battery plant approved.

First, the City Council and the California Coastal Commission must approve an amendment to the city’s Local Coastal Program, which would change the property’s zoning from visitor-serving commercial to industrial, Morro Bay community development director Airlin Singlewald said.

This process also requires the city and Vistra to create a master plan that guides future development of the power plant property.

If Morro Bay voters pass Measure A-24 in November, however, the City Council could not change the property’s zoning. Instead, citizens would have to propose a ballot measure to be approved by a majority of city voters to change the property’s land use.

Next, the city must complete an environmental impact report for the project. The city hired Rincon Consultants for this effort, then published the draft environmental impact report in March. The final draft will be published late this year or at the start of 2025.

“Consider the Local Coastal Program and environmental impact report, those are preconditions to even get to a place where you can approve a use permit,” city attorney Chris Neumeyer said.

Then, the Morro Bay Planning Commission would be able to issue a coastal development permit to Vistra, which would approve construction of the battery plant in the coastal zone, Singlewald said. Citizens could appeal the permit to the Morro Bay City Council and California Coastal Commission.

This results in a “two-phased processing” of the battery plant, he said.

Eventually, city staff will bring a recommendation to the City Council regarding the battery plant. The options are: denial of the project, approval of the project as proposed, approval of an alternative design presented in the environmental impact report or approval of a modified project.

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