A business park in South San Jose. Jack London Square in Oakland. The San Diego bank. In addition to a highschool in Santa Barbara County.

Large battery storage systems are planned throughout California and built faster than somewhere within the USA at dozens of locations. They are a critical a part of the state's plans to expand renewable energies by storing electricity that may use solar parks and wind turbines later if the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.

But now, after a large fire last month with certainly one of the most important battery storage values ​​on this planet – Moss Landing in Monterey County – caused the evacuation of 1,200 people, closed the Highway 1 for 3 days and solved poisonous heavy metals over the encompassing landscape. New limits to maintain the rapidly growing technology away from populated areas.

According to the California Energy Commission, there are 187 battery systems in California in California – from only 17 in 2019. Battery storage has increased by 1,340% up to now six years, from 928 megawatts to 13,391 Megawatt today. A megawatts are enough electricity to operate 750 houses.

“We need these facilities,” said the meeting woman Dawn Addis, a democrat from Morro Bay, where the voters rejected a battery warehouse by the ocean in November. “But we have now to construct trust with regards to our future of fresh energy. We would love to watch out after we are and be sure that we usually are not vulnerable to school children, local business owners and residents. “

Addis, whose district of Moss Landing, has introduced a draft law in state laws that will ban recent battery storage systems inside 3,200 feet by houses, schools, firms and hospitals. Under your invoice from 303News are also prohibited within the coastal zone of the state, on earthquake errors, first -class arable land, wetlands, dangerous waste stands and in very high focus zones with high fire races on Cal Fire Maps.

The invoice would also prevent the battery storage systems from approving of state officials from California Energy Commission in 270 days, even when local cities and counties take off the projects. These rules were created in 2022 when governor Gavin Newsom signed an invoice to hurry up the pace of renewable energies in California. So far, six projects have applied. It has not yet been approved.

Addis receives a return from the industry for renewable energies, the unions and another Democrats.

“We share the goal of wanting to do an incident like Moss Landing to never pass again,” said Alex Jackson, California director of the American Clean Power Association, an industry group. “We just don't agree on the approach. This calculation focuses on organizing recent facilities. We shouldn't be concentrated here. “

Jackson and other industry leaders say that the Moss Landing plant is exclusive. The battery storage system was in-built 2019 when the technology was in its infancy and was in-built an enormous concrete camp with a former PG & e-oil and gas burning power plant from the Fifties from the Fifties. The lithium-ion batteries were stacked and comprised of older chemistry with nickel, manganese and cobalt, which may cause fires which were lit when ignited.

He noticed newer plants, use lithium iron-phosphate batteries which might be less vulnerable to fires. The units are sometimes arranged outside the outdoor area and housed in individual metal containers, each in regards to the size of an 18-wheel trailer. So when a hearth begins, the probability of propagation could be very low.

Jackson said that after the Moss Landing Fire, the state should check the older battery systems as a substitute of blocking recent ones which might be needed to cover rising electricity requirements because more people drive electric vehicles and require artificial intelligence more data centers.

“We don't have to choose between the clean energy and security of the community,” he said. “The technology is proven. It's protected. The corresponding answer is to take a look at a few of these legacy institutions that usually are not representative of state-of-the-art species. “

A challenge is the lightning speed at which the battery storage spreads throughout the state. No state agency has a public list that shows what number of more are planned, where and after they are expected to be built.

But a review of the Bay Area News Group of A US Ministry of Energy Database Of all planned energy projects nationwide, there are no less than 96 recent battery storage systems in California or are to be built by 2027.

These include the 75-megawatt Hummiingbird project within the 6321 San Ignacio Ave. In South San Jose, near the Highways 85 and 101. It needs to be opened next month.

Another is planned near the Jack London Square in Oakland. Visstra Energy, the Texas company that belongs to the Moss Landing, also has an aging dynegy power plant in Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The company has been planning for several years to construct a 43 megawatt battery plant on the location by May 2027.

The largest 275 megawatt Kola Energy Center eight miles east of Livermore on the Patterson Pass Road. It is to be opened this summer.

In the south, the painter energy storage project in Santa Barbara County is built by the Carpinteria High School on the opposite side of the road. In San Diego, several plants are planned and in-built the country, and one which is known as the Peregrine Energy Storage system is under construction for a mile south of Petco Park.

Local officials near Moss Landing say that further borders are obligatory for brand new plants.

“Moss Landing was approved because we were promised that it would be safe,” said Glenn Church of Monterey County. “This promise couldn’t be met. If people wish to get concerns about health and security of their neighborhoods, what's incorrect with it? “

The fire has brought environmental groups which have supported the battery technology and their legislative champions in a difficult place.

Senator John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, is the previous secretary for natural resources under governor Jerry Brown. He said he had serious concerns about Addis Bill. New technology is best than Moss Landing, he said, and the state should think about older plants as a substitute of limiting recent ones.

“We have three goals here,” said Laird. “To keep the sunshine, to deduct fossil fuels and to be protected. We just can't sacrifice for the opposite. We have to satisfy all three. “

Less than two weeks after an enormous fire within the Moss landing in one among the world's largest battery storage facilities, scientists who’re connected to San Jose State University have discovered unusually high toxic metals in floors in Elkhorn Slough, roughly a mile.

Researchers at Moos Landing Marine Laboratories have proven microscopic particles of nickel, cobalt and manganese, that are normal in 1000’s of lithium ions.

“These three metals are poisonous,” said Ivano Aiello, professor of marine geology at Moss Landing Marine Labs, who led the floors. “They are dangerous for water life. We would love to know how you progress and interact with the environment, whether you’ll be able to do it through the food network and at what level – from microbes to seabed. “

The dramatic fire within the 750 megawatt battery system began on January 16 and burned two days. It caused the evacuation of 1,200 inhabitants and the closure of the Highway 1 for 3 days. The flames overwhelmed the fire-promoted system within the factory, which was managed by Visstra Energy, an organization based in Dallas, at the previous point of an organization in-built Dallas within the Fifties.

The lithium battery beaches burn at high temperatures and are difficult to bring out. As a result, fire fighters didn’t fight for the hearth and let it burn out. The fire distributed a big cloud of poisonous smoke across the world near the border between the counties Santa Cruz and Monterey and has raised questions on security in other communities during which battery storage facilities are planned. The plants are the important thing to storing electricity and wind power to make use of at night in order that California can proceed to alter from fossil fuels to renewable energies.

The discovery of battery levies within the floors of Elkhorn Slough, a protected network of wetlands, streams and wild animals which can be popular with bird watchers and kayakers, became aware of the results on people living in communities near the plant.

Officials from the Monterey County district said on Monday that the Monterey County Ministry of Environment continued to work with civil servants from the California EPA to check floors in real estate on the trail of the cloud of smoke. You expect the primary results to be published by the tip of this week, said Nick Pasculli, a spokesman for Monterey County.

“We are completely devoting ourselves to the safety of people and their health,” said Pasculli. “This is our top priority and protects the environment. We are very occupied with obtaining the information from the Elkhorn -Lough samples in order that we will analyze the outcomes and seek the advice of state and federal authorities who’ve the supervision to find out one of the simplest ways. “

Aiello said he took samples of around 100 jobs. He has studied the world for greater than 10 years. He analyzed the floors with an electron microscope in Moos landing laboratories and said that the spines of the battery metals were present in the most effective millimeters of the soil, not in lower values. He said he took measurements on 21, 23 and 24 January and compared them with soil samples, which were faraway from the hearth system's fire in the identical places.

“The concentrations rose from ten parts per million to thousands of parts per million – 2 to 3 orders,” he said. “It's a lot.”

Aiello said it is crucial that the tests will proceed for weeks, months and years to follow how the metals change and move. It rained last weekend, he noticed, and he planned additional tests to see the results.

Aiello just isn’t a health care provider, but said it is crucial that state and native officials test soils in communities within the plant to see how they’ve modified and the way they compare themselves to Elkhorn -Slough.

High heavy metals resembling nickel, cobalt and manganese “bio -accumulated” or move the food chain of plants and microbes into fish and bigger animals that eat the fish. At high levels you’ll be able to cause neurological damage, reproduction damage and other problems. It just isn’t yet clear that Aiello said whether the extent had affected the health of fish or wild animals.

“We know that these particles are poisonous,” he said. “They are heavy metals. We have no idea whether or not they are a danger. But we want to know. I live here. I work here. Let us discover. “

“The future will be more battery storage facilities worldwide,” added Aiello. “We move away from fossil fuels. Is that the answer? Is that the fitting technology? “

Officials from the US environmental protection authority have arrange air monitors on the night of the hearth. In the times after the hearth, she and officials from the Monterey Bay Air Resources district said that their monitors didn’t find soot or hydrogen fluoride, a toxic gas from burning batteries, in unhealthy values.

At several public meetings, nevertheless, dozens of residents expressed concerns in regards to the effects of the cloud of smoke not only in air, but additionally water and soils in the encircling communities. Some people complain a few metallic taste, the results of their asthma and other health changes.

Pasculli said Visstra officers laid straw rolls across the work for erosion control. Visstra met with state, local and federal officials to plan the clean -up work of the work that continues to be offline, he added. Governor Gavin Newsom called for an independent examination of the California public utilities commission last week.

Originally published: January 27, 2025 at 4:20 p.m. PST

Five days after a serious fire at one in all the world's largest battery storage plants in Moss Landing, Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for an investigation into the blaze that rocked California's renewable energy industry.

“The governor believes this incident should be investigated to determine the cause and identify any steps that can be taken to make older facilities like Moss Landing safer,” said Daniel Villasenor, a spokesman for Newsom. “As the governor said, as this technology advances, California has made significant efforts to improve battery safety and reliability.”

Villasenor said Newsom believes Vistra, the Texas company that owns the burned battery plant, and the California Public Utilities Commission, a state agency, should each investigate. The commission's safety and enforcement division is scheduled to fulfill with plant officials on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, local officials on Tuesday called on the 2 firms operating at the positioning to shut their battery storage facilities there indefinitely until the reason for the fireplace might be determined and measures might be taken to scale back the chance of one other fire.

By a 5-0 vote, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors decided in an emergency meeting to ask Vistra, the corporate whose 750-megawatt plant burned, and PG&E, whose neighboring 182-megawatt plant didn’t burn, to suspend operations until the causes have been eliminated The causes of the fireplace within the renewable energy plant “have been identified and eliminated”.

“This technology surpasses the government's ability to regulate it and the industry's ability to control it,” Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church said. “This process we’re in right now, which is about constantly learning, just isn’t working. It puts communities at risk.”

The vote got here after a tense three-hour meeting wherein dozens of North Monterey County residents raised questions on the dramatic fire's health impact on their families, possible ongoing water and soil contamination and the way in which facilities are granted county permits were issued openly and the way security might be improved.

“We all had a metallic taste in our mouths, burning eyes, burning throats and yellow residue all over our belongings,” said Michelle Clary, a resident of Royal Oaks, 4 miles east of the power. “If you can't get it out there, this technology has to stop. You have to be able to express it.”

The fire began at 3 p.m. on Thursday. Within hours, 100-foot-high flames shot from the concrete constructing where Vistra operated 300 megawatts of battery storage as a part of its facility on a former PG&E natural gas power plant site inbuilt the Fifties. The fire sent a column of toxic smoke rising into the sky. Police evacuated 1,200 people by Friday night and closed Highway 1 until Sunday.

The fire department didn’t fight the fireplace but waited until it burned itself out. Lithium battery fires are notoriously difficult to place out. They burn at high temperatures and might emit toxic gases that may cause respiration problems, skin burns and eye irritation.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials arrange air monitors Thursday evening. At Tuesday's meeting, Monterey County Environmental Health Director Rick Encarnacion said no monitors had detected levels of particulate matter – or soot – or hydrogen fluoride, a toxic gas that may result from lithium battery fires, that were above state health guidelines .

Vistra officials confirmed this claim.

“We continue to monitor the site and can confirm that there is no active flame,” said Peter Ziegler, vp of Vistra. “A limited amount of smoldering continues. Air monitoring conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency and independent air quality experts continues to indicate that the site and surrounding area are safe and do not pose a threat to the public.”

The fire was the fourth on the Moss Landing site since 2019. Two occurred on the Vistra site in 2021 and 2022. Investigations determined they were attributable to a malfunction of a sprinkler system that released water and damaged several LG battery units overheating. The other happened on the adjoining PG&E site in 2022, when an improperly installed vent guard on one in all the 256 Tesla units there allowed rainwater to enter and short-circuit the batteries.

However, this hearth was much larger. According to Vistra and the fireplace department, almost the complete 300-megawatt portion of the positioning was destroyed. One megawatt is sufficient to power 750 households.

Neither Vistra nor PG&E said Tuesday how long the 2 plants would remain closed.

Vistra's Ziegler said the corporate's employees haven’t yet been in a position to begin inspection because a few of the batteries are still smoldering.

There was some confusion Tuesday over whether Vistra and PG&E had accomplished contingency plans under a law signed by Newsom in 2023. State Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, said it doesn’t appear that PG&E has submitted a plan to Monterey County, as required by the law he authored, SB 38.

Late Tuesday, PG&E spokeswoman Lynsey Paolo said the corporate submitted an emergency response plan to Monterey County's North County Fire Protection District in July. When asked to release a duplicate, she said the corporate wouldn’t accomplish that since the plan contained confidential information.

Vistra submitted an emergency facility to the county in September 2023, 4 months before the law went into effect. County officials said Tuesday that the plan doesn’t include a “worst-case scenario” of a serious fire, but only plans to take care of a small fire.

“The impact of this fire has been profound – from the financial difficulties of small businesses affected by the highway closure to the stress and disruption caused by the evacuation,” Laird said. “These challenges highlight the importance of not only managing the immediate consequences, but also implementing long-term solutions to prevent similar incidents in the future.”

Originally published: January 21, 2025 at 4:05 pm PST

MOSS LANDING — Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church and state Assembly member Dawn Addis are calling for the Vistra Moss Landing battery energy storage facility in Moss Landing to stay offline until officials can explain what caused the hearth that began Thursday has broken out, and may assure the general public that this plant is secure.

Church previously called for a “full independent investigation at all levels into exactly what happened.”

A Vistra representative responded later Friday afternoon, saying that determining when the plant comes back online will likely be a “collaborative process” and that the corporate will follow regulations and inform the general public.

The fire appeared to flare up again Friday afternoon, but Addis and Church said they were informed the hearth would flare up if more batteries flared up contained in the constructing where the hearth ignited.

The fire prompted an evacuation affecting about 1,200 people and the closure of Highway 1 in each directions in addition to other roads. The evacuation orders were lifted late Friday.

“There has to be some accountability,” Church said within the Friday morning news conference, noting that this was the fourth fire on the Moss Landing battery facilities in five years.

The fire at one among the world's largest battery energy storage systems occurred in a constructing containing 300 lithium-ion batteries, an unknown variety of which burned and proceed to burn. Hazardous substances present in lithium-ion battery smoke include hydrogen fluoride, a colorless gas that may cause serious physical harm.

North County Fire District Chief Joel Mendoza said a hearth suppression system on a battery rack did not contain the hearth. The fire was at its most intense Thursday evening, he said, and was mostly out Friday morning. However, the cloud remained a priority and was being monitored by each the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and CTEH, an external Vistra consultant.

Mendoza reported that preliminary information from monitoring the plume showed that no dangerous hydrogen fluoride was detected.

Flames could possibly be seen coming from the power again on Friday afternoon, and the cloud of flames had grown exponentially.

On Friday morning, Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto said evacuation orders were still in effect and were awaiting the report from the advanced air surveillance system to “play it safe so no one gets hurt” before the county and sheriff's office Department revoked evacuation orders

Pete Ziegler, regional vice chairman who oversees the Moss Landing power plant and energy storage facility, said monitoring began immediately after the hearth broke out.

He acknowledged the system error, but added: “We do not yet know what triggered this event.”

Church called the hearth a “worst-case scenario disaster here,” adding that it was a “wake-up call for this industry.”

The fire on the Vistra power plant began around 3pm on Thursday and no injuries or fatalities were reported.

Vistra and Pacific Gas and Electric/Tesla operate battery storage facilities on the Moss Landing power plant.

The Moss Landing power plant site has been producing energy in various ways since 1950. It has the infrastructure and demarcated land that make it a chief location for battery storage systems. The energy storage systems exist there after going through the general public process and were approved by commissions and committees before construction and operation.

Vistra experienced incidents in its battery storage system on September 4, 2021 and February 13, 2022. An incident occurred at Pacific Gas and Electric/Tesla, also referred to as Elkhorn Battery Energy Storage System, on September 20, 2022.

Both Vistra incidents on the Moss Landing facility in 2021 and 2022 were brought on by water leaks from the mitigation system. This led to ground faults, arcing and native smoke. Both events were localized to the location and had no impact on air, water, soil or surrounding communities.

The laws, enacted in response to the 2022 fire outbreak on the Elkhorn Battery Energy Storage System facility in Moss Landing, was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in October 2023.

Senate Bill 38, authored by State Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, and co-authored by Assemblymember Dawn Adddis, D-Morro Bay, requires battery storage facilities to ascertain security and communications protocols.

“If renewable energy is to be the future, it really needs to be based on safe energy,” Church said.

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Originally published: January 18, 2025 at 10:42 am PST

Officials reported Saturday they were “cautiously optimistic” that the worst was over after a serious fire broke out Thursday afternoon that destroyed many of the Vistra warehouse facility in Moss Landing.

About 80% of the power and the lithium batteries it housed were consumed by the fireplace, North Monterey County Fire Department Chief Joel Mendoza said Monday Press conference on Saturday. Located across from Moss Landing Harbor on the location of a former PG&E power plant, the power houses tens of hundreds of lithium batteries. Such battery fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish, can burn at high temperatures and release toxic gases that may cause respiration problems, skin burns and eye irritation.

By 2 p.m. Saturday, the flames had died down and the smoke had subsided, however the heat remained contained in the constructing. And since it's normal for battery fires particularly to re-intensify, first responders continued to maintain U.S. Highway 1 closed in each directions between Highway 183 and Struve Road, officials said. There isn’t any estimated time for the reopening of Highway 1.

“The last thing we need is for the public to hinder emergency services from doing their job,” said Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto.

Federal officials are monitoring air quality along with Vistra's roaming air quality monitoring efforts, said Olivia Trombadore, on-site coordinator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The agency deployed nine air quality monitors the primary night after the fireplace began to examine the fireplace scene and evacuation area and surrounding areas for hydrogen fluoride and particulate matter, two pollutants that may pose a health risk. Their models suggested it was hydrogen fluoride, an acidic gas dangerous if inhaledwould have been destroyed in a hearth of that size, she said.

“We have not detected levels of these two contaminants that would pose a risk to the public,” she said.

The majority of residents living near the Vistra storage facility in Moss Landing returned home Friday evening, officials said, just hours after an evacuation order was lifted.

Monterey County spokesman Nicholas Pasculli said the precise variety of residents returning is unclear. In an update Friday evening, the Monterey County Emergency Management Agency said air quality monitoring confirmed that “there is no threat to human health.”

The wildfire raises questions on the protection of a technology — battery storage — considered essential to long-term support of expanded use of solar and wind energy in California. In recent years, the state has increasingly relied on massive battery storage facilities to capture electricity in the course of the day and release it to the grid at night to cut back the danger of blackouts during hot, high-demand summer months.

County Executive Glenn Church and Rep. Dawn Addis called on Vistra to offer the general public with greater safety guarantees in terms of its roughly $1 billion battery storage facility.

“We need to make sure that when we say to a community, 'We're working on climate solutions,' we're not saying, 'We're doing this, but it's on the basis of your health and safety,” Addis called for a full investigation into the fireplace.

“We will use the best technology and the best human minds to ensure we have the greatest possible chance of something like this not happening again,” said Brad Watson, senior director of community affairs at Vistra.

The fire was reported on Thursday afternoon as alarming clouds of black smoke rose from certainly one of the world's largest battery storage plants. The event closed Highway 1 and evacuated residents in northern Monterey County, from areas from Moss Landing south of Elkhorn Slough, north of Molera Road and Monterey Dunes Way and west of Castroville Boulevard and Elkhorn Road to the ocean.

The fire department didn’t fight the fireplace but allowed it to burn out by itself. The flames continued to burn throughout Thursday and continued to smolder into Friday. Evacuation orders were lifted around 6 p.m. Friday evening, with officials advising returning residents to remain indoors, limit outdoor exposure and switch off their ventilation systems.

Monterey officials said Friday they were misled by Vistra, the Texas-based energy giant that built the 750-megawatt power plant in 2020.

Mendoza said Vistra's fire suppression system, which had worked in previous situations, was inadequate and the fireplace engulfed the system. He added that air quality monitors arrange by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials had not detected hydrogen fluoride gas, certainly one of the most important hazardous substances that may arise from burning batteries.

In addition, a county hotline has been arrange at 831-769-8700 for residents to call officials in the event that they have questions on air quality and safety best practices, Pasculli said.

Originally published: January 18, 2025 at 5:39 pm PST

MOSS LANDING – Highway 1 was closed and evacuations were ordered within the Moss Landing community and Elkhorn Slough area after a serious fire broke out Thursday afternoon at a battery storage plant in Moss Landing in northern Monterey County.

The fire, which burned uncontrolled Thursday night and produced huge flames and dangerous clouds of black smoke, was reported at the ability on Highway 1 around 3 p.m., Monterey County spokesman Nicholas Pasculli said.

RELATED: Energy Storage at Moss Landing: A Smokey Challenge for a New Chapter

“It is imperative that residents obey the evacuation order and follow the instructions of the police and fire departments,” Pasculli said. “In this situation, we take the protection of life and property very seriously. We urge people to follow the evacuation order and move to a safe location.”

Evacuations of about 1,500 people have been ordered for areas from Moss Landing south of Elkhorn Slough, north of Molera Road and Monterey Dunes Way and west of Castroville Boulevard and Elkhorn Road to the ocean, he said.

Pasculli said the Monterey County Sheriff's Office called other agencies within the county to help with the emergency.

“It is a serious incident,” he said. “All resources from the county and our neighboring jurisdictions were deployed to assist with this incident.”

The plant belongs to the Texas company Vistra Energy and is considered one of the most important battery storage power plants on this planet. It incorporates tens of hundreds of lithium batteries that store electricity generated through the day from solar and other sources to be used at night. Such battery storage plants are a vital a part of California's efforts to convert most of its electricity generation to renewable sources.

“You can’t sugarcoat it. “This is a disaster,” Monterey County Supervisor Glen Church told KSBW-TV. “This is extremely disturbing.”

Church said the fireplace was “contained” in a concrete constructing whose roof had collapsed.

“We don't think there's any real danger of it expanding outward and penetrating further into where it's inside,” he said. “There are a lot of batteries in there and the system is on fire quite a lot.”

The plant is positioned on the location of a now-closed Fifties PG&E Moss Landing natural gas plant, visible from its huge smokestacks near Moss Landing Harbor. The first phase was accomplished in 2020 and expanded to 750 megawatts in 2023. Vistra sells the electricity stored there to PG&E, which also owns a separate 182-megawatt, 256-tesla battery storage facility on the north side of the location. “Megapack” battery packs. This system didn’t look like burning at 8 p.m

Employees on the Vistra plant called the North Monterey County Fire Protection District for assistance after a fireplace was discovered on the 300-megawatt Phase I energy storage facility, company spokeswoman Jenny Lyon said in an email to this news organization.

Lyon said all personnel were safely evacuated.

“Our top priority is the safety of the community and our staff,” she said, “and Vistra greatly appreciates the continued support of our local emergency responders.”

Lyon said the reason for the fireplace has not yet been determined, but an investigation will begin once the fireplace is extinguished.

Lithium battery fires are notoriously difficult to place out. They burn at high temperatures and may emit toxic gases that may cause respiratory problems, skin burns and eye irritation.

There have been other fires at the ability.

Fires broke out on the Vistra plant on September 4, 2021 and February 14, 2022. Investigations revealed that they were brought on by a malfunction of a sprinkler system that released water and caused several units to overheat.

Then in September 2022, a fireplace broke out at PG&E's Elkhorn battery plant. Police closed Highway 1 for 12 hours. An investigation determined the cause was an improperly installed vent guard on considered one of the 256 units, which allowed rainwater to enter and short-circuit the batteries. There were no injuries to firefighters, PG&E employees or the general public.

Governor Gavin Newsom then signed a law requiring battery storage power plants in California to work with local fire departments to develop emergency plans and increase fire protection.

“Expanding the state’s battery storage is critical to achieving our clean energy goals,” state Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, who authored the bill, said in an interview last yr. “But we also need to ensure that these facilities have safety systems in place to protect the health and well-being of workers and surrounding communities.”

Last summer, after two fires broke out at San Diego County battery storage facilities, San Diego County regulators asked county officials to impose stricter rules that may restrict battery storage facilities near homes, schools and other facilities. And when Vistra proposed constructing a big battery plant in Morro Bay, residents there approved a measure on the November ballot that they hoped would block construction.

Battery storage has increased sevenfold in California over the past five years, from 1,474 megawatts in 2020 to 10,383 megawatts last summer. One megawatt is sufficient to power 750 households.

On Thursday evening, the Castroville Recreation Center at 11261 Crane St. served as a brief evacuation point for individuals who needed to depart their homes.

Highway 1 is closed in each directions between Highway 183 and Struve Road. There isn’t any estimated time for the roadway to reopen.

Originally published: January 16, 2025 at 7:40 pm PST

The burden of providing asylum seekers with food and accommodation often falls to the cities, the creation of heavy Budget cutsBut Denver is currently testing a brand new approach that goals to integrate immigrants into the labor market more quickly.

The Denver Asylum Seeker Program offers six months of rent-free accommodation in addition to legal assistance, food assistance and skilled training. The program began on April 10, 2024 with places for as much as 1,000 participants.

Only asylum seekers who were already living in Denver when this system was launched are eligible to participate—a provision designed to maintain costs under control and discourage hopeful participants from coming to Denver. This is a very important detail in a city that like othershas been groaning under the financial burden of the influx of migrants since December 2022.

Upfront financial costs The recent programme includes expenses for accommodation, food and training, that are expected to be around $1,700 per migrant.

So is that this effort value it? One approach to judge that is to take a look at a toolkit utilized by economists often called Cost-benefit evaluation. I teach this tool set as Professor of Economics at Colorado State UniversitySuch an evaluation takes into consideration the general advantages and costs of a program resembling Denver’s in comparison with maintain the established order or “do nothing”.

A system under pressure

Migration flows in Denver reached a peak in early 2024 when 5,213 people arrived in only at some point, leading to Reduction in opening hours of leisure centres and the Motor Vehicle Authority to release funds for food and shelter supplies.

Many of the migrants got here from the border with Mexico and carried Fines paid for by the Governor of Texas due to Denver's status as a sanctuary city. Denver has seen Since the tip of 2022, 42,817 migrants have arrivedgreater than another US city of this sizebut in recent weeks the numbers have dropped significantly.

The recent Denver Asylum Seekers Program is designed to regulate costs by serving a limited variety of asylum seekers while helping others “Securing onward travel”, as the town describes it, after only 72 hours in temporary accommodation. The city had previously offered 14 days accommodation for adults and 42 days for families.

The program allowed Denver to chop $15 million per quarter from its previously planned budget, but the town will still spend 90 million US dollars in migrant services in 2024, including the prices of the Denver Asylum Seekers Program.

Costs of doing nothing

Denver currently has greater than 10,000 persons are homelessTherefore, one motivation for the brand new program is to maintain these migrants off the streets.

Denver's homeless grew by 32% in 2023 to about 10,000 people, even when migrants are usually not included in the whole numbers. More people on the streets result in higher care costs in Emergency rooms and for Police work.

If this system means avoiding among the costs related to “doing nothing,” then those avoided costs could go toward other income support and prevention programs. This idea was illustrated in 2023 when Denver faced additional spending on migrant services and received around $2 million from Department of Human Services Accountsother programs can be neglected.

How Denver's program addresses problems

The Denver program is a direct response to Processing times for work permits for newly arrived asylum seekers who’ve been within the country for up to 1 yr in the previous couple of months. According to federal law Asylum seekers must wait 150 days before you even apply to work legally on this country.

The Denver program is designed to make good use of this waiting time by Training of the workforcewhich increases the probabilities that migrants will quickly find employment once they’re allowed to work.

Job training advantages not only the migrants themselves, but additionally their relations and the local economy. Recent statistics show that 43% of refugees in Colorado were under 18. So, when migrant parents get jobs, the prices of programs that support children, resembling public social services, are minimized.

Further advantages of migrant services

Research suggests that supporting migrants also local economic development.

An economics professor at Montana State University found that a $100 increase within the federal government’s monthly support for refugees Temporary assistance for families in need Program was linked to 5 to eight percent higher wages for these migrants once they’ve began workingThe study concluded that refugee aid is an economical approach to help refugees find suitable jobs. These jobs, in turn, contribute to the long-term economy, which advantages everyone.

The integration of refugees has also proven to be particularly helpful for Colorado. Professors from the Colorado School of Public Health and the University of Colorado Anschutz documented connections between economic independence and Integration into the community from 467 refugees from Colorado inside three yearsThey measured integration by understanding of American culture, knowledge of legal rights, and other points of social and economic stability.

Investment returns from employing migrants

A common counterargument Investments in recent migrants have the potential to displace native employees within the labour market. In a US State Department paperIt was shown that the admission of refugees over a study period of 30 years had no impact on the wages or employment of the local population.

One yr 2018 Colorado Department of Human Services The report found that 2,700 refugees within the state generated $611 million in recent economic activity. For every dollar invested in refugee services, the return was $1.23 in recent state and native tax revenue.

If this first-of-its-kind program achieves the identical return on investment, it will probably be expanded or replicated in other cities to cut back migrant spending and promote local economic sustainability.

What a difference a jobs report makes. At the start of the summer, people were nervous that the economy was too hot. But now – especially in response to weaker than expected employment data published on August 2, 2024 – Stock prices fallSome analysts even fear that a recession might be imminent.

As a Professor of Business AdministrationI urge everyone, from investors to consumers to policymakers, to calm down, take ten deep breaths and chill out. Taken together, the economic data paint a greater, if more complex, picture.

Why investors are freaking out

If that The latest US labor market report has been publishedthe market was not completely satisfied.”Dow Jones plunges nearly 1,000 points after report shows sharp decline in US labor market figures” read one headline. When the Dow closed on the day the report was released, the index had lost about 2% of its value in comparison with the day before today’s close.

The sell-off has intensified. Global stock markets falling even further after investors had your complete weekend to process the labor market data. The DowThe S&P500 And Nasdaq-Composite all recorded losses on August 5. The Japanese Nikkei closed 12% lowera big decline.

The report that sparked all this turmoil found that the U.S. economy added only 114,000 latest jobs in July 2024 – fewer than the expected 175,000.

These numbers were widely viewed as disappointing. As CNN put it, they raised concerns:The labor market is slowing down too quickly and will trigger a recession.” Many news reports identified that the report triggered an indicator often called Sahm rulewhich has reliably signaled a recession previously.

In response to this perceived threat of recession, many individuals have criticized the Federal Reserve for not cutting rates of interest sooner. US Senator Elizabeth Warren, for instance, said the chair of the central bank “made a serious mistake by not lowering rates of interest.” She added: “He has been warned again and again that waiting too long risks driving the economy into the ditch.”

While the Federal Reserve Interest rate cut expected in SeptemberHowever, critics are calling for the pace to be accelerated.

But all this – the sell-off, the pleas to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, the talk of a “hard landing“ – is premature.

No panic

It's true that the most recent jobs numbers were lower than expected. It's also true that stocks closed lower the day the numbers were released. But that doesn't prove a recession is coming or that the Fed has mismanaged the economy, nor does it mean that anyone's 401(k) is in peril. It just means the economy is slowing — and, I’d add, that was to be expected.

This is since the Fed is attempting to slow the economy to scale back inflation. Since May 2022, its strategy has been to progressively raise rates of interest, which is able to slow demand and in turn reduce inflationary pressures. If successful, this strategy should lead the economy to slower growth and a lower – more stable – inflation rate, while stopping a recession. In other words, it’s the famous “soft landing.”

Moreover, the labor market data tells a more complex story than the headlines suggest.

There are signs of layoffs. The agricultural machinery giant John Deere has been within the headlines for years plans to put off around 600 employeesThe computer chip manufacturer Intel is also plans job cuts.

The report itself notes a net lack of jobs within the automotive industry, information services and temporary employment.

Of course, the impact of those job losses on individual staff and their families can’t be underestimated. But while some sectors lost jobs, others created latest ones: construction, transportation and healthcare all saw employment gains.

Such mixed signals across different sectors are quite common. They are an indication that growth in the general labor market is slowing – and that could be very different from a recession, which normally sees layoffs across the economy.

It can be value the broader context. While the most recent numbers have been disappointing, this has been the exception fairly than the rule recently. Since at the very least January 2024, the US The labor market has exceeded expectations

The US economy A whopping 272,000 latest jobs were created in Mayfor instance – significantly greater than the 180,000 that analysts had expected. At the time, some people criticized the Fed for not doing enough to slow the economy – the alternative of Warren's current criticism.

So what does the July 2024 jobs report suggest? Ultimately, in my view, it simply signifies that the economy is slowing. Higher rates of interest dampen demand, encourage slower job growth, and reduce pressure on wages and costs. That is what a soft landing looks. Even the gentlest landings can experience slight turbulence.

Before there may be further overreaction, market watchers should want to turn their attention to 2 reports coming before the Fed's September meeting: the subsequent inflation report, due on August 14, and the August jobs report, due on September 6. If the patron price index grows by 2.75% or less and jobs growth is again slower than expected, the Fed will almost actually cut rates of interest by 25 basis points in September.

While I’m sure there shall be a chorus of pundits complaining that the speed cuts shall be too small, we’re in for a period of regular rate cuts.