Hello John and Doves,
Another hit to California! First their
massive fires and now the world's largest lithium-ion
battery energy storage facility in Monterey County,
California caught fire. The cause is under
investigation. It's packed with lithium
batteries. What could possibly go wrong?
The
Fires:
Doesn't look like the Minions in charge of
California were too awfully concerned about 'air
quality' that would be impacted by forest fires in their
state. Considering they did little to prevent
forest fires in the first place. And now a huge
area, the size of Paris, has been reduced to ash.
And the damage is pushing $275 billion!
Just think of all the carbon in the air now!
And all the CO2 released! Exactly how has
California lawmakers impacted climate change gases in
California?
Too much time and money spent on DEI and CRT,
their 'sanctuary' status and other liberal
non-sense. Instead, they wasted time and money to
pass ridiculous laws like no more gas-powered lawn
equipment - maybe they should have thought about laws to
clean up dead brush, requiring homeowners, subdivisions,
cities to make fire breaks. Who thought allowing a
reservoir to remain empty, not doing the annual check on
hydrants, cutting fire department personnel and funding
- and sinking over $25 billion into illegal immigrants -
was a good idea for California?
Instead of blaming California liberal politics for
their disastrous forest fire mitigation policies and
their spending billions of taxpayer money on illegal
immigrants, they are blaming 'climate change' - the
vegetation was too dry this year! They knew that -
so why didn't they put in fire breaks, require clearing
out of underbrush and dried up vegetation, increase
funding to fire crews and fire equipment. Newsom
"invested $2.7 billion to reduce the risk of
catastrophic wildfires by managing our forests and
bolstering manpower. Yet, in this last set of
fires - they ran out of water - a reservoir was empty;
the fire department budget was cut, etc. (see my
previous letter on these fires). So where did that
$2.7 billion actually go?? And now they are saying
the cost of these recent fires could be $250 to $275
billion!
Top
6 Ways California is Preparing for Wildfires |
Governor of California
California politicians dumped over $22 billion on
illegal immigrants instead of on state issues.
And this came out in 2025: This looks good on
paper - but what was ACTUALLY done?
And this came out in 2020:
"As of Sept 15, 2020, the fires had generated more
than 91 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is
about 25% of the state's annual emissions from fossil
fuels. Higher carbon emissions contribute to a
multipart climate feedback, accelerating climate change
which then sets the stage for more fires that will emit
an increasing amount of carbon dioxide, experts say."
So California KNEW fires would really offset their
'climate change' regulations for gas-powered lawn
mowers. Shows us how bogus their climate change
initiatives really are!! These recent fires have
probably negated every CO2 measure California 'climate
change' lawmakers have pulled out of their hats for the
last decade! In their mad crazy dash to end fossil
fuel use.
Their banning gas-powered lawn equipment was "to
drastically reduce the harmful air quality endangering
the health of residents across the state." What a
joke.
And To Add Insult to Injury:
The world's largest lithium battery power plant,
that is located in central California, caught
fire. It contained tens of thousands of lithium
batteries. Over 1,700 people were evacuated.
Part of Highway 1 was closed down. Huge flames,
lots of smoke. And they don't know the cause yet.
There is a big push to get away from fossil fuels,
such as clean burning natural gas, and move to lithium
batteries.
Everyone knows the dangers lithium batteries
pose. Lithium batteries can suddenly explode,
catch fire - and emit toxic chemicals - like hydrogen
fluoride. . These fires are very, very hard to
extinguish. These batteries are nearly all lithium
which can lead to "thermal runaway". They can
catch fire if they overheat or are damaged.
Lithium batteries are found in cell phones,
laptops, tablets, electric toothbrushes, power tools,
electric bikes, EVs, etc and big batteries are used with
wind farms and solar panels.
Lithium Battery Fires:
Airlines:
"Passengers are warned not to pack lithium
batteries in checked luggage, as fires in the cargo hold
are harder to extinguish."
Cargo Ships:
EVs:
"Los Angeles has been rocked by some of the worst
forest fires in the city's history over the past week,
with an estimated 40,000 acres burned across five
fires....experts are now warning of the increased risk
that abandoned electric vehicles could pose to the
region's recovery."
"..lithium batteries burn very hot...they can be
harder to put out and "take different means to
extinguish."
"Now that the fires are gradually being brought
under control in L.A., officers are starting to turn
their attention to the city's recovery and cleanup
effort. Here, once again, EVs could post an
additional challenge." There are a large number of
lithium batteries in the rubble.
"Electric cars can reignite suddenly after getting
"electrochemically excited"...there are also more risks
associated with inhaling fumes from EV fires and there's
a greater risk of chemical burns when dealing with
damaged battery packs."
California's Lithium Battery Plant Caught
Fire:
To add insult to injury, California's lithium-ion
battery energy storage system has caught fire.
Vistra Power Plant in Moss Landing "generated huge
flames and significant amount of smoke". It was
'the first phase' that caught fire. The three
phases are houses in separate enclosures. This is
77 miles south of San Francisco.
This plant houses tens of thousands of lithium
battery modules. The Phase III project brought in
more than 110,000 battery modules.
"Crews are not engaging the fire and are waiting
for it to burn out. Letting lithium-ion battery
fires burn out is not unusual because they burn very hot
and are hard to put out."
"...residents raised concerns about hazardous
gases being released into the air."
"Thermal runaway" means the battery can catch fire
and burn very hot and release toxic gases.
Residents were advised to shut off A/C and close
their windows and turn off ventilation systems -
yet "there was no threat to human health". The EPA
is testing air quality and an "air consultant" is
checking the surrounding communities.
This isn't the first 'event' at this plant - back
in 2021 and 2022 there were two "overheating events".
"California was an early adopter of battery
storage and leads the nation with more than 11 gigawatts
of utility-scale storage online, which can meet nearly
half of the demand of the state's main grid for four
hours per day."
"It was unclear what caused this latest fire."
"No matter what kind of lithium battery you use,
when you reach a certain size, it is inherently very
dangerous and easy to catch fire," said Yiguang Ju,
engineering professor at Princeton University."
"Some improvements, such as more fire prevention
measures, can be made to reduce fire risks with lithium
batteries...but the only way to really address
the problem is to us a safer technology"...like
water-based and redox flow batteries that are not ready
for commercial use.
These plants can be a trade off - cleaner air when
using solar/wind vs ONE fire that dumps a ton of toxic
chemicals into the air. And there is only energy
being produced for storage when the sun is shining and
the wind is blowing.
Lithium
Battery vs The Old Battery:
"According to the Wall Street Journal, lithium-ion
battery mining and production are worse for the
climate than the production of fossil fuel vehicle
batteries. Production of the
average lithium-ion battery has a three times more
cumulative energy demand compared to a generic
battery...The disposal of the batteries is also a
climate threat. If the battery ends
up in a landfill, its cells can release toxins,
including heavy metals that can leak into the soil and
groundwater. A study from Australia
found that 98.3% of lithium-ion batteries end up in
landfills, which increases the likelihood of
landfill fires that can burn for years.
One landfill in the Pacific Northwest was reported to
have had 124 fires between June 2017 and December 2020
due to lithium-ion batteries. Fires are becoming
increasingly more common...."
"Only about 5% of the world's
lithium batteries are recycled compared to 99% of
lead car batteries recycled in the United
States. Recycling lithium batteries,
however, can be hazardous....And because the cells are
often held together with tough glues that make them
difficult to take apart, it is often cheaper for
battery makers to buy newly minded metals than to use
recycled materials, even with rapidly increasing
prices."
Also, extracting lithium requires large
amounts of water - this can easily lead to ground
water contamination. Cobalt is needed in these
batteries and its mining results in "hazardous
byproducts that can toxify the environment."
Sulfuric acid can result - infiltrating rivers,
streams. Most of the cobalt is mined in the
Congo. 80% of the mines in the Congo are owned
or financed by China - child labor is extensively used
in these mines.
Environmental
Impacts of Lithium-Ion Batteries - IER
This big push for EVs and lithium batteries and
moving to 'renewable' energy was poorly thought
out...unless you are China or a minion of Chi.
Money should have been put into more research for
alternative power sources that actually cost less than
fossil fuel sources and are safe.
California's Huge Carbon Footprint:
Looks like Californians have created a huge carbon
foot print this year. Thanks to Democrats, climate
change ideology, and environmentalists. Look at
the mess they've made. No getting that carbon or
CO2 or toxic fluoride gas (HF - hydrogen fluoride)
out of the air!
We need safer batteries. They are all around
us everyday. In so many things we use.
With tens of thousands of batteries at this plant
- the fire could have been much, much worse. And
we don't know the amount of toxins that resulted from
this. And I don't know if the fire has burned
itself out by now or not.
Maranatha!
Chance