California
$600 million battery storage project meets resistance in California
An artist’s conception of the proposed battery storage project, formerly the site of the power plant’s tank farm. Image courtesy of Vistra Corp.
Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Inside Climate News. It appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
By some criteria, 1290 Embarcadero in Morro Bay, Calif. seems like a prime site for a facility to store renewable energy.
This swath of coastal land houses a power plant that was shuttered a decade ago and its still standing smokestacks. Vistra Corp.’s proposal for a 600-megawatt battery storage project on a portion of the site includes remediating the entire area and removing the plant and stacks, readying the land for future development. And the site’s history as a power plant means it’s well-positioned to connect to existing transmission lines.
“The location is fantastic, and certainly the need is there in the California grid,” said Mark McDaniels, Vistra’s vice president of renewables and storage, at an April 24 community meeting.
But some locals in the small city on California’s Central Coast disagree, and placed a measure on the ballot this fall that could impact the project’s future. Project opponents say they’re concerned about its impacts on tourism and the potential for fires at the facility, with one resident calling the proposal a “toxic bomb” during the meeting.
California recently surpassed 10,000 megawatts of battery storage capacity, marking a 1,250 percent increase since 2019. At one point on April 19, batteries were the largest source of power to the state’s grid for the first time. And in the inland Southern California town of Menifee, a 680-megawatt storage project replacing an old gas plant will be among the largest battery reserves in the United States.
California draws a growing share of its electricity from the sun during the day, but the sun sets as Californians come home from work and turn the lights on, creating demand that usually must be filled by fossil fuels. Battery storage allows power companies to generated by solar panels and windmills for when the sun isn’t shining and breezes are calm.
The state still will need nearly 42,000 additional megawatts of energy storage capacity by 2045 to meet its goal of using 100-percent clean electricity that year. But in some communities like Morro Bay, proposed storage projects have been met with heated opposition.
This local pushback demonstrates the tension between the desire for “really high quality local permitting” and the state’s push for “really rapid transformation of the whole electricity grid and rapid deployment of energy storage,” which will require the speedy issuing of permits, said Mariko Geronimo Aydin, co-founder and chief energy economist at Lumen Energy Strategy, which last year completed an analysis of the state of battery storage in the state for the California Public Utilities Commission.
“I think ultimately, we want to have both; we don’t want one at the expense of the other,” said Geronimo Aydin.
Vistra Corp. proposed the Morro Bay battery storage project in 2020, and the project is currently in the draft environmental impact report stage, with that document open for public comments through the end of May. The project is awaiting consideration by the city’s planning commission and city council.
But the ballot measure put forth by local opposition group Citizens for Estero Bay Preservation would reroute that process by requiring approval by a majority of voters. Last year, the group gathered enough signatures—10 percent of the city’s registered voters—to place Measure A-24 on the ballot.
Back in 2021, the city changed the land-use designation of the shuttered power plant from “Industrial” to “Visitor Serving/Commercial,” and for the energy storage project to move forward, the city council would need to vote to change the designation to again allow industrial uses. If the ballot measure is approved, it would freeze the current land-use designation of the property and a few others in the area and then require a majority of voters to approve another change in the land-use designation.
“We felt that kind of facility basically in the center of our tourist area is inappropriate. Our whole town is based on the tourism economy,” said Barry Branin, a member of the group behind the ballot measure.
Instead, he says the battery storage project should go somewhere more inland in the agricultural valleys east of Morro Bay, or “out in the middle of the desert somewhere,” near existing renewable energy projects.
“All of the people from the valley like to come to Morro Bay, and if I knew there was going to be a battery facility. . . I wouldn’t want to bring my family to Morro Rock,” said Branin. “So why deprive the rest of the state of the use of the coast for some economic reason?”
Branin also argues that inland residents use more air conditioning than people living on the coast, so “the batteries should be near the users who have the air conditioners that are really demanding the electricity (at night).”
The argument underlies a key intersection of California’s climate and housing crises: For years, housing development has stagnated along the generally wealthier coasts as residents resist new development, pushing more Californians inland to communities at higher risk of extreme heat events.
Vistra says the project would support both the state’s energy needs and the local community.
“Our proposed plan puts ratepayers and residents of Morro Bay first by utilizing pre-existing interconnection infrastructure, while allowing for the eventual master planning and redevelopment of the remaining property to improve the Embarcadero area and allow for increased public access for the benefit of future generations,” reads a statement attributed to Claudia Morrow, senior vice president of development for Vistra.
And not building large-scale storage at sites with existing transmission infrastructure like the former power plant in Morro Bay “would lead to higher costs for the electricity system as a whole,” said Geronimo Aydin.
Citizens for Estero Bay also cites concerns over potential fires at the battery facility, pointing to the nearby example of Vistra’s Moss Landing in Monterey County, where in September 2022 a faulty smoke detector triggered water releases on the battery racks, which caused short circuits. The facility was then offline for months.
A community safety report commissioned by Vistra for the Morro Bay project found “no significant risk to the community,” determining that if a fire burned at the facility while wind blew the emissions toward nearby homes, the fire wouldn’t release enough toxins to cause a significant health risk. But that’s done little to quell concerns from community members, who filed into a recent community meeting holding up blue “Yes on Measure A-24 signs.”
Safety events at battery storage facilities are “relatively rare” across the United States, impacting between 1 to 2 percent of systems, and tend to occur in the first couple years of operation, according to Geronimo Aydin. The estimate applies to the industry “while it was in its pilot and demonstration phase,” and she says the industry has since standardized and improved safety best practices. But clearly and accurately communicating the potential risks to local residents and other stakeholders is still a big barrier for the industry.
“Now we’re at a position where safety risks and how to manage them are very well understood by those who work in the space, but the challenge now is to communicate exactly what that risk is, that it’s manageable risk and how to manage it,” said Geronimo Aydin.
Branin says he’s confident the ballot measure will succeed. But new legislation that allows large battery storage facilities to opt in to an approval process from the California Energy Commission (CEC), instead of going through a local process, could provide a backup pathway to Vistra.
Vistra didn’t respond to questions about how the ballot measure might impact the project, and at the April 24 community meeting a Vistra representative only said the company is focused on the project and the current process from the city.
“The applicant says they’re committed to the city’s process, and we’re working with them in good faith on that,” said Michael Codron, the city’s interim director of community development. “If the city’s process results in a denial or if the ballot measure precludes the ability of the city council to approve the application, I would think they would avail themselves of the CEC process.”

California
Big Boy: World’s largest locomotive embarks on California tour
(KTXL) — Northern California residents will have an opportunity to see the world’s largest steam locomotive when Union Pacific’s “Big Boy” makes numerous stops in the state over the next several days.
Big Boy No. 4014 is in the middle of a coast-to-coast tour that will take the train from California to Pennsylvania in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States. The train began the journey last month in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the locomotive’s home base, and arrived in Portola, California on Wednesday.
After stops in Oroville, Marysville and Lincoln Thursday, Big Boy will arrive for a multi-day stay in Roseville, California.
“We’re proud to welcome the Big Boy back to Roseville, a city that owes its founding more than a century ago to the railroad,” Roseville Mayor Krista Bernasconi said in a news release. “Big Boy’s return isn’t just a nod to our past; it brings visitors from across the region to explore the shopping, dining, events and attractions that make Roseville such a vibrant place to be.”
The train will be on public display at 375 Atlantic Street in Roseville for two days: 1-5 p.m. on April 10 and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 11.
While in the Golden State, the train will also make brief “whistle-stops” in several other area towns:
- Oroville, April 9, 2-2:30 p.m., 2181 High Street
- Marysville, April 9, 3:30-3:45 p.m., 7th Street Crossing
- Lincoln, April 9, 4:30-4:45 p.m., 7th Street Crossing
- Colfax, April 12, noon-12:45 p.m., Amtrak Depot, 99 Railroad Street
- Truckee, April 12, 4:45-5 p.m., 10065 Donner Pass Road
Admission is free, though Union Pacific warns that guests should always stay 25 feet back from the tracks and never climb on the locomotive.
U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, former Oregon congresswoman who now serves in President Donald Trump’s administration, will be in town to celebrate the visit. The cabinet member plans to talk with the Big Boy’s “steam team” and learn more about the locomotive, officials said.
Big Boy No. 4014 was one of 25 locomotives commissioned for Union Pacific Railroad beginning in 1941. According to the company, they were built to haul heavy equipment during World War II between Ogden, Utah and Cheyenne, Wyoming.
The locomotives are 133 feet long and weigh 1.2 million pounds. They are “hinged,” which helps the huge trains navigate curves.
The Big Boys were eventually decommissioned, including the retirement of No. 4014 in December 1961 after traveling more than a million miles, according to Union Pacific.
But in 2013, the company reacquired the locomotive from a museum in Pomona, California. And in May 2019, Big Boy No. 4014 was returned to service, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.
California
California Candidate Offers Donors Money-Back Guarantee
Matt Mahan wants money to burn.
Photo: Casey Flanigan/Sipa USA/AP Photo
Finding new ways to raise money for political campaigns is a big cottage industry, particularly in California with its 14 expensive media markets. Now a novel wrinkle is being deployed by gubernatorial candidate and San Jose mayor Matt Mahan, as the New York Times explains:
Two months ago, Silicon Valley could not have been more agog about Matt Mahan, the moderate Democrat who had just entered the California governor’s race as a tech industry ally opposed to a billionaires’ tax …
Mr. Mahan quickly raised millions, including contributions from Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder. But he has struggled to gain traction among voters. Now, with the June primary fast approaching, Mr. Mahan’s supporters have concocted a rather unusual campaign-finance strategy.
The pitch: Help us raise $35 million by April 17, and you’ll get your money back if we fall short.
No, donors aren’t being promised a win or a refund. But they will get their money back if Mahan doesn’t raise enough money to become viable in the home stretch before mail ballots start being cast in early May (the end of the all-by-mail primary is June 3, the date by which those ballots must be postmarked). The conditional nature of these donations, moreover, means they will be anonymous until such time as Team Mahan hits the target and the money is transferred into an official campaign account. It provides a nice hedging device for big-money folk nervous about the fragile shape of the ten-candidate field that is vying for two general-election slots. And the cup-rattling is off to a pretty good start, says the Times:
The campaign is organized by David Crane, an influential California political fixer whose advocacy group, Govern for California, is popular among tech executives. Mr. Crane has told people in recent days that the group’s “escrow” account has $13.5 million so far with $5 million more in the pipeline, according to communications The Times reviewed. Donors pitching it include Michael Moritz, a billionaire venture capitalist and one of Mr. Mahan’s biggest supporters, and Blake Byers, a tech executive and investor.
Mahan’s money hustlers are his campaign’s strength and also one of his weaknesses. California progressives are intensely suspicious of the Silicon Valley bros who have been moving rapidly to the right in the last few years. Some have joined hands with Donald Trump and others have gravitated to “Abundance” Democrats, like Mahan, who have little tolerance for his party’s interest-and-constituency-group “base” and its policy preferences. If Mahan’s campaign did take off, it might stimulate a consolidation of support behind one of the more progressive candidates (probably Eric Swalwell, Katie Porter, or Tom Steyer). That’s particularly true now that Trump’s endorsement of Republican Steve Hilton has likely limited the number of Democratic participants in the general election to one.
For the moment, any Mahan surge is hypothetical. His late entry into the race at the end of January means he wasn’t even being included in early polls. The one public poll where he does appear, a March 15 survey from Berkeley IGS, showed him tied for seventh place at 4 percent. Yes, he needs money to catch up, but he also needs a compelling message that goes beyond “lefties hate me!” Said lefties would undoubtedly shrug and support Mahan if he is in a general election with Hilton. But they have plenty of other options — at least one of whom, Steyer, has more money to burn than Mahan can ever raise — before it comes to that.
See All
California
Attorney disputes federal claims after ICE shooting in California; family seeks medical update
The attorney for the man shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Patterson is disputing federal claims and raising questions about what led up to the shooting, and what’s happening now at the hospital.
Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez’s fiancée and attorney say they still don’t know his condition and are struggling to get basic information from authorities.
They’re also disputing ICE’s version of events and point to court documents that they say tell a very different story.
“I have a lot of concern right now about getting info, finding out how is he doing, is he alive, is he recovering and what is his situation,” said Patrick Kolasinski, Hernandez’s attorney.
Dashcam video captured the moments Tuesday morning when Hernandez tried to pull away from agents who were attempting to arrest him as ICE said he is wanted for questioning in El Salvador in connection with a murder. Kolasinski speculated that his reaction may have been driven by fear.
“I wasn’t with him, I can only imagine if you see what’s happening in immigration detention and find yourself about to be detained,” Kolasinski said. “It’s normal to try and flee.”
ICE claims Hernandez is a member of the 18th Street gang and is wanted in El Salvador. But his attorney says none of that is true.
“Carlos is a family man who was on his way to work when he was detained by ICE. He has had no criminal contacts in the United States,” Kolasinski said.
Court documents from 2019 show Hernandez was charged with aggravated homicide, which was later reduced to simple homicide. The court documents also shows Hernandez was found not guilty.
“He was, in fact, acquitted, so he cannot possibly have a warrant out for his arrest,” Kolasinski said.
CBS Sacramento reached out to ICE regarding the court document from El Salvador, but has yet to hear back.
“I think the problem is the training,” Kolasinski said. “You have a not dangerous person and when they try to flee. First of all, the car was way too far behind. When you do a traffic stop, you pull up close behind. If you’ve ever gotten a ticket, you’ll see CHP is on your bumper. Why? So this can’t happen.”
Hernandez’s attorney and his fiancée both say they’re now struggling to get basic information.
“Sheriff’s office, no one, no one responded to me, being searching for answers,” said Cindy, Hernandez’s fiancée.
Cindy said she didn’t hear from the authorities first, but from her sister. After arriving at the hospital, she said an FBI agent took her into a room.
“He said, ‘I’m going to record you because I need to have this recorded, right?’ So I was expecting him to talk to me about Carlos. I literally asked how he’s doing, is he’s in the hospital. He said, ‘I cannot share any information. I’m not authorized.’”
CBS Sacramento reached out to the FBI and is awaiting a response.
As they wait for answers, she said this goes beyond just one case.
“Right now it’s me and that’s the reason I’m here. I’m also representing our community,” Cindy said. “I don’t want this situation to continue and continue blaming these people, in this case, Carlos.”
Right now, his family and his attorney say they’re still attempting to find out his condition.
Kolasinski said Wednesday evening that Hernandez is detained under the U.S. attorney’s office. Kolasinski added that Hernandez underwent a medical procedure, but the family doesn’t know his condition.
-
Atlanta, GA5 days ago1 teenage girl killed, another injured in shooting at Piedmont Park, police say
-
Education1 week agoVideo: We Put Dyson’s $600 Vacuum to the Test
-
Movie Reviews1 week agoVaazha 2 first half review: Hashir anchors a lively, chaos-filled teen tale
-
Georgia3 days agoGeorgia House Special Runoff Election 2026 Live Results
-
Pennsylvania3 days agoParents charged after toddler injured by wolf at Pennsylvania zoo
-
Education1 week agoVideo: YouTube’s C.E.O. on the Rise of Video and the Decline of Reading
-
Milwaukee, WI4 days agoPotawatomi Casino Hotel evacuated after fire breaks out in rooftop HVAC system
-
Entertainment1 week agoInside Ye’s first comeback show at SoFi Stadium