When Citizens for Estero Bay Preservation put up signs for its ballot measure in hopes of blocking a battery plant, member Norm Williams said the safety of Morro Bay fueled its cause.
“We’re all for green energy. We just want it to be done responsibly,” Williams told New Times.
The preservation group’s worst fears for Morro Bay came true for another community on Jan. 16 when a Vistra-owned battery energy storage system caught fire in Monterey County, evacuating 1,200 residents, temporarily closing Highway 1, threatening the nearby Elkhorn Slough Reserve, and prompting a response from local and state officials.
Within SLO County, there’s currently one completed 100-megawatt battery plant in Nipomo and a pending Vistra application in Morro Bay for a 600-megawatt facility.
Facing similar environmental vulnerabilities to Moss Landing, the Morro Bay City Council unanimously approved adopting an urgency ordinance to block future battery plant applications at its meeting on Jan. 28.
At the meeting, Community Development Director Airlin Singewald told the council that the ordinance would be temporary and last 45 days. On Feb. 25, the council could vote to extend the urgency ordinance for another two years.
Talk of an urgency ordinance came after Morro Bay voters passed Measure A-24 that stripped the City Council of its jurisdiction over the plot of land where Vistra wants to build its proposed 600-megawatt battery facility. In response, Vistra decided to request state approval under AB 205, which bypasses local control over certain renewable energy projects.
While the urgency ordinance wouldn’t impact Vistra’s state application, it does give the city time to develop stricter permanent ordinances for future applications.
At the Jan. 28 meeting, Mayor Carla Wixom said her primary responsibility is to keep Morro Bay safe from irreversible harm.
“We have a responsibility to protect our environment, and … you can’t have a do-over,” she said. “Seeing what’s going on up there—now we don’t know if that’s reversible. I don’t think that we should be the guinea pig for it.”
In the wake of the lithium-ion batteries fire in Moss Landing, San Jose State University Moss Landing Marine Laboratories said it found increased and “unusually high” concentrations of heavy metals in the soil around Elkhorn Slough after the fire.
Morro Bay Councilmember Zara Landrum said she wondered if the previous council that had approved the Vistra battery facility in 2021 questioned its decision.
“I would think that those prior members are now really questioning their decision, because we dodged a bullet here in Morro Bay. Unfortunately, the people in Moss Landing didn’t have that opportunity. But we have been lucky. We yet don’t know the cumulative effects of the damage that has occurred there,” she said.
Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) was on the City Council that approved the Memorandum of Understanding between Vistra and the City which included addressing possible developments on the plot of land where the old power plant stands, according to a meeting on June, 9, 2021. But on Jan. 23, just a week after the Moss Landing fire, Addis announced new legislation that aims to provide more state guidelines when it comes to building battery plants
“Response to emergencies is much more expensive in terms of dollars, …. much more expensive than prevention is,” Addis said at a press conference on Jan. 23.
Addis said that her new preventative bill, AB 303, could potentially help prevent another disaster like Moss Landing from happening again in California.
“We have to protect this sensitive habitat and our communities,” she said.
According to the document, AB 303 proposes to remove battery facilities from the California Energy Commission’s Opt-In Certification Program—or AB 205, the same program that Vistra is pursuing for its Morro Bay location.
Addis said that the proposed bill would return authority to local communities when it came to battery facilities.
“We believe deeply in the importance in the local community to have a voice in the process,” she said.
AB 303 outlines strict guidelines as to where a battery facility could be built. Applying to facilities that are 200 megawatts or more, the bill would require those plants to be no closer than 3,200 feet away from environmentally sensitive areas, residences, and highways.
Morro Bay Estero Bay Preservation member Williams told New Times he saw Addis’ new bill as a good start but felt it had limitations.
Although he felt AB 303 considers the climate of Morro Bay and would work to protect Morro Bay’s critical habitats and residences, Williams said 3,200 feet back just wasn’t enough.
Williams said he had a friend who lived 10 miles away from the Moss Landing fire and still had to leave their residence because the air bothered their lungs. But, he added, it’s a move in the right direction to understand an ever-evolving science.
“Dawn Addis, to her credit, has changed her position and realizes that safety comes first and that’s all we wanted,” he said, “That’s where we’re hoping the Legislature follows suit and protects the people of California.” Δ
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct Citizens for Estero Bay’s name and correct that Assemblymember Dawn Addis was on the City Council in 2021 that approved a Memorandum of Understanding between Vistra and the city that opened the opportunity for Vistra to potentially redevelop the old power plant site. Vistra had previously submitted its application for a battery facility to Morro Bay in 2020 which was under review by city staff in 2021. Addis did not vote to approve Vistra’s application in 2021.Â
This article appears in Jan 30 – Feb 9, 2025.