It’s been 16 months since a massive fire tore through one of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery storage facilities in rural Monterey County, spewing toxic gas into the air as it smoldered for several days, and, even today, cleanup is far from complete.

It will take at least several more months, and possibly another year, before the charred, waterfront power plant owned by Texas-based Vistra Corp. is cleared, Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church said.

The process is slow because it is dangerous, with thousands of batteries yet to be removed and crews working carefully to avoid reigniting a fire. “Of course, quicker would be better, but safety has to be first,” Church said.

The blaze in Moss Landing provoked hostility toward battery projects in California, where state officials are pursuing an aggressive goal of 100% clean energy usage by 2045 to increase the grid’s capacity and combat the catastrophic effects of climate change.

A safe energy transition

Battery energy storage systems hold excess energy generated during the day — by solar panels, for instance — and release it into the power grid during times of high demand, including evening hours. California has invested heavily in battery storage, which, my colleague Hayley Smith reported, grew more than 3,000% from 500 megawatts in 2020 to more than 15,700 megawatts in 2025.

A new bipartisan bill introduced this month in the U.S. House of Representatives aims to keep this transition safe.

The Better Energy Storage and Safety Act would dedicate federal funding of $30 million annually over the next five years toward research and stress testing for the systems.

It was authored by Rep. Jimmy Panetta, a Democrat whose Central Coast district includes Moss Landing, and co-led by Rep. Pat Harrigan, a North Carolina Republican.

Despite efforts by the Trump administration to stymie green energy, Panetta said in an interview, “you have to accept the reality of renewables … That’s why we want to ensure that it’s as safe as possible.”

A fast energy transition

The Moss Landing fire has represented the proverbial elephant in the room in the midst of California’s rapid energy transition, Church said.

He has called for more local control over where battery systems are built and been a vocal advocate for more safety regulations, saying the catastrophe in Moss Landing should be learned from, not written off as “an inconvenient accident.”

With proper engineering, lithium-ion battery storage sites pose little risk of catching fire, Shirley Meng, a molecular engineering professor at the University of Chicago and internationally known battery expert, told me last fall. She said safety has improved dramatically in recent years and that the failure rate is about 1 in 10 million for all types of lithium-ion batteries.

California is now speeding review for large-scale renewable energy projects through a new fast-track permitting program that does not require sign-off from county and municipal governments — a fast-track process that Church has criticized.

Last fall, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new state law — prompted by the Moss Landing accident— that requires battery storage safety standards and requires developers to coordinate closely with local fire departments.

Stacey Shepard, a spokesperson for the California Energy Commission, said in an email that “today’s battery systems are governed by rigorous safety standards,” use improved technology and “are placed in outdoor containers rather than inside buildings,” unlike in Moss Landing site.

The cause of the Moss Landing fire is still under investigation

Firefighters let it burn for days, citing the dangers of dousing lithium-ion battery fires with water, which can cause dangerous chemical reactions.

The blaze ignited inside a former turbine building that contained a 300-megawatt system made up of about 4,500 cabinets, each containing 22 individual battery modules, according to Vistra Corp.

Of the 99,000 individual LG battery modules in the building, about 54,450 burned, according to Vistra. Justin Daily, a spokesman for the company, said in an email that as of May 8, more than 31,000 battery modules had been removed, de-energized and shipped to recycling facilities.

“We are now working to enable safe access to batteries in the damaged portion of the building,” he said.

Today’s top stories

Multiple wildfires trigger unhealthful air quality alert in SoCal

Apartment scouts are on the rise in Los Angeles

• They aren’t real estate agents or brokers. Rather, they are savvy entrepreneurs who tour apartments, share listings online and, in some cases, work one-on-one with clients to find a place that fits their specific aesthetic and budget.
• The demand for apartment scouts highlights the pressures of L.A.’s competitive rental market, where vacancies are scarce and rental rates are among the highest in the country.

What else is going on

Commentary and opinions

This morning’s must-read

Another must-read

For your downtime

On May 22, Disneyland’s Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will include a new mission as well as new destinations such as the gas-like locale of Bespin, seen here in concept art provided by Disney. The tweaks are tied to the film “The Mandalorian and Grogu.”

(Disney Parks)

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Going out

Staying in

Question of the day: Sticker shock: Send us examples of California houses with sticker prices that truly shocked you.

Is it worse than this burnt-out three-bedroom in Torrance that sold for over $1 million?
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally … the photo of the day

A firefighter pauses while clearing brush in the Sandy fire in Simi Valley.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s photo is from Times photographer Kayla Bartkowski on a hill in Simi Valley near the Sandy fire, one of multiple blazes consuming more than 20,000 acres.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Hailey Branson-Potts, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, Fast Break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

Which of these is least likely?

Kendrick Lamar and Drake squashing their feud?

Giants fans and Dodgers fans sharing high-fives? 

Or California charter schools endorsing the same candidate for superintendent as the state’s largest teachers’ union?

If you remember the 2018 election, you’d probably vote for the pigs-flying scenario of the California Charter Schools Association and the California Teachers Association being on the same page in an election year. Back then, advocates for both sides shelled out tens of millions of dollars in the contest between union-supported Tony Thurmond and charter school-backed Marshall Tuck. Thurmond came out ahead. 

But this year, both associations are rallying behind candidate Richard Barrera: Four months after the teachers’ union announced its endorsement of the president of the San Diego Unified school board, the charter schools association this week said it’s backing Barrera too — a move Barrera told me “came as a bit of a surprise.”

He pointed to two attributes of San Diego schools that might explain how the usually competing groups came to support his candidacy. First, unlike in other regions, the politics surrounding San Diego school board races or other education issues did not typically pit “charters versus union.” In fact, the percentage of students attending charters grew while he was on the board. 

And second, the school board included charters when it distributed money to improve school facilities. That experience working on local facilities bonds established “a unique relationship between the charter and public schools that CCSA has told me that doesn’t exist in most places,” Barrera said.

In a statement, Gregory McGinity, the executive director of the charter association’s lobbying arm, said Barrera, “has shown that supporting educators and supporting high-quality charter public schools are not mutually exclusive.” 

But don’t expect both groups’ backing of Barrera to mean they will agree with each other in the future. CTA President David Goldberg told me that while the union didn’t endorse Barrera to build a coalition with charters, he didn’t find the charter association’s support of Barrera “shocking” either.

• Goldberg: “Sometimes even people who don’t see things the same way … we still want someone who is very capable running this department. That benefits all students.”

Bodycam and drone video show the deadly SWAT standoff after Tulare County Deputy Randy Hoppert was killed serving an eviction notice on April 9, 2026. Credit: Kern County Sheriff’s Office

Bodycam and drone video show the deadly SWAT standoff after Tulare County Deputy Randy Hoppert was killed serving an eviction notice. Credit: Kern County Sheriff Office