Researchers Respond to Technical Review of Moss Landing Battery Fire Study

MOSS LANDING, Calif. - A team of San José State-led researchers who studied the environmental effects of the January 2025 Moss Landing battery fire have issued a response to a technical review by Terraphase Engineering hired by Vistra, the owner of the facility. The response serves as a rebuttal to specific Terraphase findings, examining the scientific validity of several methods and quantitative interpretations in the Terraphase review.

The SJSU response comes as Monterey County evaluates a broader environmental investigation of the area surrounding the power plant.

While the Terraphase assessment concluded that the conditions measured months after the fire did not indicate an immediate threat to public health or the environment, the research team, led by Dr. Ivano Aiello, emphasizes that the two studies examined fundamentally different stages of the event.

SJSU's rapid-response investigation used pre-fire baseline data and samples collected shortly after the Jan. 16 fire to document the initial surface deposition and its rapid decline. Conversely, the Terraphase investigation examined conditions several months later, after much of the transient surface enrichment documented by Aiello's team had already dissipated, and was designed to evaluate potential longer-term risks.

Rather than viewing the findings of the two reports as contradictory, Dr. Aiello encourages Monterey County to consider them complementary. The SJSU rapid-response measurements document conditions immediately following the fire, while later sampling by Terraphase provides information about subsequent environmental conditions and potential longer-term exposure.

Integrating these datasets, Dr. Aiello said, would provide a more complete understanding of the fire - from initial deposition and subsequent redistribution to longer-term environmental conditions and potential human and ecological impacts.

The researchers have requested that their full scientific response be posted alongside the Terraphase review as part of the public record.