Le Mars to receive $400K for site cleanup
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley's office says the money comes from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, through its Brownfields Assessment Grant Program.
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The funds will be used for 18 Phase I & 7 Phase II assessments. The funds will also be used to develop three cleanup plans for the Business 75 Corridor and to support community engagement activities.
Those plans include a former Walmart location, a former meat-packing plant, a vacant landscaping company, and an unused hotel.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Los Angeles Times
17 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
EPA OKs ‘unprecedented' cleanup plan for battery plant months after toxic Monterey County fire
Ever since a massive fire tore through one of the world's largest battery storage facilities in January, cleanup crews have been unable to safely access portions of the building that burned in rural Monterey County. The risk of reigniting a fire has been too high, preventing crews from starting the lengthy, dangerous removal of tens of thousands of lithium-ion batteries. Now, that process could soon begin. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced this week that it had reached an agreement regarding the battery removal with Texas-based Vistra Corp., which owns the battery energy storage system in Moss Landing that caught fire. The 75-page agreement, signed July 17, requires Vistra to submit detailed work plans to the EPA on all aspects of battery removal and to get the government's approval before it proceeds. 'Vistra will conduct and pay for the battery removal and disposal process under EPA's oversight,' Kazami Brockman, the EPA's on-scene coordinator, said during a Monterey County news briefing Wednesday. 'If the agreement is not performed to EPA's satisfaction, EPA does have the authority to take over the cleanup and bill Vistra for the cost.' Brockman added, 'We anticipate that this work will continue for over a year due to the technical complexity as well as the safety measures being put in place to protect the workers and the community.' In an email Wednesday night, Meranda Cohn, a Vistra spokeswoman, said 'battery removal could not occur until this agreement was in place.' The Moss Landing fire began Jan. 16. It smoldered for several days, spewing toxic gas into the air and prompting the evacuation of about 1,500 people. Firefighters let it burn, citing the dangers of dousing lithium-ion battery fires with water, which can cause dangerous chemical reactions. The fire ignited inside a former turbine building that contained a 300-megawatt system made up of about 4,500 cabinets, with each containing 22 individual battery modules, according to Vistra. Such battery systems store excess energy generated during the day and release it into the power grid during times of high demand, including evening hours. These facilities are seen as essential for stabilizing the state's electric grid and advancing the transition to cleaner energy because they can store solar and wind power to use when the sun isn't shining and turbines are not turning. But the Vistra fire also has exposed the dangers inherent with large-scale battery storage, prompting state and federal regulators to seek stronger safety protocols. Of the 99,000 individual LG battery modules in the building, about 54,450 burned, according to Vistra. On Feb. 18, the fire reignited and burned for several hours. Vistra wrote on its website that 'additional instances of smoke and flare-ups are a possibility given the nature of this situation and the damage to the batteries.' The damaged building — filled with burned and unaffected lithium-ion batteries — remains volatile, which has both slowed and complicated the cleanup. 'The challenge here is there are batteries in various states of charge, still being able to hold charge, all the way to completely consumed,' Brockman said. Over the last six months, crews have removed fire debris containing asbestos and disconnected safely accessible batteries to reduce the risk of reignition, according to the EPA. Some portions of the building have been 'completely inaccessible,' Ramon Albizu, the EPA's lead on-scene coordinator, said in an interview Thursday. He added that the 99,000 modules in the building suffered varying degrees of damage. 'We need to carefully, surgically demolish the building to be able to get to all the modules,' Albizu said. 'That requires a lot of planning.' Since the fire, the EPA, Vistra and other regulatory agencies have created more than 30 work plans related to the demolition and battery removal, he said. Work to stabilize the building should begin by the end of the month, he added. The Moss Landing fire ignited nine days after the start of the deadly Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles County. The EPA, under pressure from the Trump administration to work quickly in Southern California, removed about 300 tons of hazardous household debris — including more than 1,000 lithium-ion batteries — from the massive burn zones in Altadena and Pacific Palisades within 28 days. Albizu said the battery removal in Moss Landing differs greatly from the removal of smaller batteries in Southern California, many of which came from electric vehicles. In the Vistra building, each of the 99,000 batteries, he said, is about 4 feet long and weighs more than 200 pounds. 'It's something that is unprecedented,' Albizu said of the battery plant fire. Once each battery is removed, its remaining energy will be transferred to another source, according to the EPA. If the batteries are too damaged for that to be done, crews will discharge them through brining, during which they are submerged in a water-and-salt solution. The batteries then will be transported off-site for disposal, David Yeager, director of project development for Vistra, said during the Monterey County news briefing Wednesday. In a statement to The Times on Thursday, Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church, whose district includes Moss Landing, said he was 'disappointed it has taken this long to come to a point where cleanup can begin, but safety must be a priority.' According to Vistra, the cause of the blaze 'remains unknown' and is still under investigation by the company. The California Public Utilities Commission also has an ongoing investigation. The Vistra fire rocked California's clean energy industry and its plans for more battery plants, which state leaders are aggressively pursuing. In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal published Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom touted California's transition to renewable energy, writing that it was 'time for America to follow California's lead.' He wrote that the ability to store clean electricity was 'a key factor' in hitting clean energy goals and that, over the last six years, the state has added 15,000 megawatts of battery storage capacity, enough to meet a quarter of peak electricity demand. 'More is on the way,' Newsom wrote, 'including the largest battery project in the world, now being permitted in Fresno County through California's new fast-track permitting process.' Along with additional safety regulations for battery storage, the blaze has prompted calls for more local control over where storage sites are located. In a survey of nearby residents conducted by the Monterey and Santa Cruz counties' health departments, 83% of respondents said they experienced at least one symptom — most commonly headaches, sore throats and coughing — shortly after the fire. Nearly a quarter of respondents said they had trouble breathing, and 39% reported having a metallic taste in their mouth. The survey, conducted in February and March, polled 1,539 people who lived or worked in the region at the time of the fire. Knut Johnson, an attorney with the law firm Singleton Schreiber, said hundreds of nearby residents have joined a lawsuit against Vistra, LG Energy Solution and Pacific Gas & Electric, accusing the companies of failing to maintain adequate fire safety systems. Johnson said plaintiffs are 'very worried' about the batteries that remain on site. 'Those burned-up batteries still contain a lot of toxins,' Johnson said. 'The wind blows, the evening fog rolls in, suspending particles in the moisture — there's lots of ways for any remaining toxins to get around the community.' The fire should 'serve as a wake-up call,' Johnson said, for anyone wanting to build battery storage facilities near residential areas and sensitive ecosystems.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
EPA poised to scrap landmark finding that will limit its battle against climate change
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has taken another step toward ending its own ability to fight the climate crisis. The agency is considering scrapping a 2009 scientific 'endangerment finding' that confirmed greenhouse gases from the oil and gas industry, and other sources, endangered people's health, so there was reason to regulate them under the 1970 Clean Air Act. 'On Monday, June 30, 2025, EPA sent over its 'Reconsideration of 2009 Endangerment Finding and Greenhouse Gas Vehicle Standards' proposal to the Office of Management and Budget, which was originally announced on March 12, 2025,' an EPA spokesperson told The Independent, in an email Wednesday. 'The proposal will be published for public notice and comment once it has completed interagency review and been signed by the Administrator.' EPA did not respond to The Independent's questions regarding the potential impacts of a rollback. But if the 2009 finding is rescinded, it would erase EPA limits on greenhouse gas pollution across industries, adding to dozens of rollbacks in federal climate and environmental policy by the Trump administration. Over the past 15 years, the endangerment finding has helped to reduce climate pollution and protect Americans' health, bolstering limits on power plants and emissions standards for trucks and other vehicles. If rolled back, limits on tailpipe emissions would be overturned and automakers could make cars that guzzle more gas. Climate scientists and activists said tossing the 2009 ruling would throttle the U.S.'s ability to prevent the worst outcomes of climate change, and would endanger people around the world in the name of the Trump administration's push for energy dominance. "If you're busily committing a crime, it's smart to try and change the law so that it's not technically a crime any more,' author and Third Act founder Bill McKibben said, on the proposal. 'Big Oil is not content to merely wreck the future, they'd like to alter the past as well." The EPA proposal is still in draft form, sources told The New York Times , so could be changed. But if it is finalized, legal challenges would almost certainly follow although those could take a year, said Dr. Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the California Institute for Water Resources. 'But, if this ultimately comes to pass, the consequences will be stark: it essentially would halt all federal actions to regulate heat-trapping and climate change-causing greenhouse gases as a pollutant. That would mark a grim milestone, indeed,' Swain told The Independent. Dr. Michael E. Mann, the director of the Center for Science, Sustainability, & the Media at the University of Pennsylvania, had warned of an attack on the 'endangerment finding' a year ago. 'The United States, and a small number of petrostates including Russia and Saudi Arabia, now pose a major threat to the planet. The rest of the world will need to decide what to do about that,' he told The Independent, in an email Wednesday. Earlier this year, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said that the agency would reconsider the 2009 finding in what he deemed the 'most consequential day of deregulation in American history.' 'The Trump Administration will not sacrifice national prosperity, energy security, and the freedom of our people for an agenda that throttles our industries, our mobility, and our consumer choice while benefiting adversaries overseas,' he said. 'We will follow the science, the law, and common sense wherever it leads, and we will do so while advancing our commitment towards helping to deliver cleaner, healthier, and safer air, land, and water.' Under Zeldin, the EPA announced it would shutter its Office of Research and Development, which provides expertise for environmental policy and regulation, and analyzes the dangers of climate change and pollution. The agency is also expected to shed thousands of employees, including chemists, biologists, and toxicologists. The U.S. has produced more greenhouse gas emissions than any country in human history. Countries are failing to cut their greenhouse gas emissions at a fast enough rate, and temperatures around the world are hitting unprecedented highs. As the planet continues to heat up, extreme weather events will become more severe, the threat of famine and plague rockets, and more species face extinction.
Fox News
4 days ago
- Fox News
FBI botched investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, declassified documents allege
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley released declassified documents related to the FBI's investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server when she served in the federal government, revealing the FBI reportedly "failed to fully investigate" the matter. "This document shows an extreme lack of effort and due diligence in the FBI's investigation of former Secretary Clinton's email usage and mishandling of highly classified information," Grassley said in a Monday press release. "Under Comey's leadership, the FBI failed to perform fundamental investigative work and left key pieces of evidence on the cutting room floor," he continued. "The Comey FBI's negligent approach and perhaps intentional lack of effort in the Clinton investigation is a stark contrast to its full-throated investigation of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, which was based on the uncorroborated and now discredited Steele dossier. Comey's decision-making process smacks of political infection." Clinton, who served as former President Barack Obama's secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, was investigated by the FBI over claims she improperly stored or transmitted classified materials on a private email server. The FBI advised the Department of Justice in 2016, ahead of that year's massive election that pitted Clinton against future President Donald Trump, that Clinton should not face prosecution over the matter. "Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case," then-FBI director James Comey said in a press release. "Prosecutors necessarily weigh a number of factors before bringing charges. There are obvious considerations, like the strength of the evidence, especially regarding intent. Responsible decisions also consider the context of a person's actions, and how similar situations have been handled in the past." Grassley specifically released declassified materials from the "Clinton annex," which is an appendix to the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General's 2018 report that reviewed the DOJ and FBI's handling of the Clinton investigation. Attorney General Pam Bondi, and other Trump administration leaders at other agencies, declassified the materials and delivered them to Grassley at his request, his press release reported. The documents claim that then-FBI Director Comey, as well as other FBI leaders, obtained thumb drives related to their investigation into Clinton, but that the agency failed "to perform additional, targeted searches of the drives," according to Grassley's office. The thumb drives reportedly were never reviewed during the investigation, but "contained highly sensitive information exfiltrated from U.S. government agencies, including the Department of State, as well as then-President Barack Obama's emails and, potentially, congressional information." The FBI also obtained intelligence that alleged communications between Florida Democrat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who served as Democratic National Committee chair until July 2016 when she resigned, and individuals who worked for the Soros Open Society Foundations, which was founded by left-wing billionaire donor George Soros. "The intelligence reports alleged that the Obama administration took efforts to scuttle the investigation into Clinton and protect her candidacy," Grassley's release reported, but that the FBI at the time did "not make serious investigative efforts" into the intelligence reports. Fox News Digital reached out to Clinton's office, Wasserman Schultz's office, the Soros Open Society Foundations and the Kettering Foundation, where Comey currently works as a senior fellow, for comment on Grassley's release, but did not immediately receive replies. "I warned years ago that the Clinton investigation failed to hit the mark, and I'm grateful the American people can finally see the facts for themselves," Grassley said in the press release. "After nearly a decade in the shadows, this information is now coming to light thanks to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel's dedicated efforts to fulfill my congressional request. "I appreciate their ongoing commitment to transparency and strongly urge them to continue to fully review this matter, including its national security impact," he said. Grassley's release follows Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's bombshell claims that Obama-era officials reportedly "manufactured and politicized intelligence" to create the narrative that Russia was attempting to influence the 2016 presidential election. Gabbard released unclassified documents Friday that reportedly show "overwhelming evidence" that then-President Obama and his national security team laid the groundwork for what would be the yearslong Trump-Russia collusion probe after Trump's election win against Clinton in 2016. "Their goal was to usurp President Trump and subvert the will of the American people," Gabbard had posted to X on Friday regarding the criminal referral. "No matter how powerful, every person involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The integrity of our democratic republic depends on it. We are turning over all documents to the DOJ for criminal referral." Fox News confirmed earlier Monday that the DOJ received Gabbard's criminal referral related to the matter but did not share additional comment.
