Lithium is the preferred mineral for so-called renewable energy sources.

Days after one of the world’s largest lithium ion battery storage facilities burst into flames in Monterey County, researchers found alarmingly high concentrations of heavy metals at a nearby estuary that is home to several endangered species.

Scientists at San José State University recorded a dramatic increase in nickel, manganese and cobalt — materials used in lithium ion batteries — in soil samples at the Elkhorn Slough Reserve after the recent fire at the nearby Moss Landing Power Plant.

The toxic metals threaten to upset the delicate ecosystem at the Elkhorn Slough, which is the state’s second-largest estuary and plays a key role in sequestering carbon emissions and protecting the coastline from sea level rise, said Ivano Aiello, chair of the university’s Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.

At first, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during Joe Biden’s presidency in conjunction with local officials, stated that no toxins were released from the fire at the energy storage facility. According to KQED, local authorities did not find elevated pollutant levels, and a company commissioned by the facility also confirmed the absence of increased toxic metals. However, KQED says a large community group on Facebook, with almost 3,000 members from Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, has voiced concerns about experiencing symptoms like headaches, sore throats, nausea, which they attribute to the fire.

Dr. Ivano Aiello, head of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories at San José State, shared with KQED that his team’s soil analysis around the Elkhorn Slough nature preserve revealed dramatically increased levels of three toxic heavy metals in the top layer of soil from approximately 100 sites, suggesting these were deposited recently due to the fire.

These materials are unmistakably from a battery, so we can directly connect the surge in toxic heavy metals to the battery source, he explained to KQED. From a scientific standpoint, the evidence is quite convincing. There’s no other explanation for why the concentrations were so much lower before and are now so much higher, especially since these elements are associated with nanoparticles.

Although local media has reported on the incident, not surprisingly, the plant fire hasn’t garnered national coverage. This is obviously because the facility involved was used for storing solar energy during the day and supplying it to consumers at night. If it had been a nuclear power plant, the incident would likely have made headlines worldwide.

However, opponents of nuclear power point to its risks to agriculture and the environment, but (not surprisingly) are remarkably silent when it the harm their favored renewable energy source is causing to the local ecosystem.

PHOTO CREDIT: Lithium ingots with a thin layer of black nitride tarnish By Dnn87 – Self-photographed, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3215855