What blows up in Nipomo doesn’t stay in Nipomo

February 3, 2025

OPINION by ANDY CALDWELL

There are many more facilities like the one that blew up at Moss Landing planned for the Central Coast! We need to act now to ensure public safety is tantamount, as it affects these sites which present the potential for toxic fires/explosions.

This project does not just affect Nipomo residents, most of whom knew nothing about this facility. In Monterey County the evacuation zone from the Moss Landing disaster was eight miles away and the shelter-in-place zone was up to 20 miles away, while schools were closed up to 70 miles away.

An incident at the Nipomo Facility has the potential to impact much of the Central Coast.

Please make every effort to attend the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 4, at 9 a.m. The meeting is on the first floor of the government building located at 1055 Monterey Street in San Luis Obispo.

During general public comment, we are asking the supervisors to declare an emergency pause to the startup of the Nipomo battery energy storage system until the community is ensured that any and all safety precautions are in place for the public and first responders.

For more details, please read and share the following:

The County of San Luis Obispo has completely failed the citizens living in the area between Orcutt and Five Cities, including Guadalupe. All these communities are well within what I am going to refer as the toxic-gas blast zone, depending on wind conditions and inversion layers, for a new battery energy storage facility located in Nipomo, a mere 1,000 feet from the 101 freeway.

Whereas the SLO County government only bothered to notify residents within a mere 300 feet of the new project before construction began, up in Monterey County, where a similar type of battery plant just blew sky high, residents within eight miles of the facility were forced to evacuate. And upwards of 100,000 residents throughout the region were advised to shelter in place. Moreover, schools were ordered to be closed 70 miles away.

When the SLO County did environmental review of the possible impacts of the project on the community, they had the gall and temerity to determine it was not likely that the facility could create a significant hazard to the public or the environment through reasonably foreseeable upset and accident conditions involving the release of hazardous materials into the environment.

Tell that to the folks in Monterey County who are now living amidst a toxic waste site because of the fire and explosion that happened at Moss Landing battery storage site. In San Diego, two of their three battery facilities had fires too, one lasting two weeks.

At a minimum, the entire region should have received the following warnings and instructions that were buried online as it pertains to a mandatory evacuation or sheltering in place.

Before a Battery Energy Storage System facility incident, you are to do the following if you live or work near a facility: Build an emergency supply kit with the addition of plastic sheeting, duct tape and scissors. Make a family emergency plan and remember to include emergency planning for your pets. Ensure that you have signed up for emergency alerts. Know how to operate your home’s ventilation system because you are going to have to shut it off and seal it! Identify an above-ground shelter room with as few openings as possible.

Further instructions for sheltering in place include: Bring pets inside. Close and lock all exterior doors and windows. Close vents and fireplace dampers. Turn off heaters and air conditioners. Seal gaps under and around the following areas with wet towels, plastic sheeting, duct tape, wax paper or aluminum foil: doorways and windows, air conditioning units, stove and dryer vents. Avoid eating or drinking any food or water that could be contaminated. Note: ten square feet of floor space per person will provide enough air for up to five hours.

Again, these protocols could easily apply to everyone living in the area from Orcutt to Five Cities in the event of an emergency.

Wow! And they call this green energy? How come every single household in the region has not received a set of these instructions?

Moreover, one additional instance of gross negligence on the part of SLO County which approved this facility has to do with the fact that there was no mention, no planning, and no evaluation or concern issued regarding the fact that dozens of farmworkers work the fields in the immediate vicinity of this facility.

Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB and host of The Andy Caldwell Radio Show, weekdays from 3-5 p.m. on News-Press Radio AM 1290.