Grassroots team collects 150 samples from Moss Landing fire
By Joyce Kim
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PACIFIC GROVE, California (KSBW) — A local scientist has started a grassroots movement to collect and analyze samples from the Moss Landing battery plant fire to address community concerns.
“This is fantastic data once it’s going to be analyzed. It will be very powerful,” said Michael Polkabla, with BioMax Environmental.
About 150 samples were collected from more than 100 properties between Gonzalez and Scotts Valley, stretching inland to Hollister.
“This grassroots organization, it’s pulled together hundreds and hundreds of people, all with diverse skill sets. Some are chemists, other people are just concerned citizens. But everybody has a skill set, and we’re coming together so that we can ask the questions and get answers to those as well, too,” said Polkabla.
A local industrial hygienist is donating countless hours and resources to analyze the data.
“We need to be transparent about what we’re finding, and we need to answer people’s questions and concerns. And, I’m a local citizen as well. I have questions, and I have concerns, and other people have as well,” said Polkabla.
The samples are being sent to ALS Environmental Lab in Salt Lake City, Utah, for analysis.
They will be tested for the presence of four heavy metals: lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt, which are often associated with lithium battery fires.
The samples will be geolocated to compare data, and test results will be available around mid-February.
“We all have concerns and we all have our own knowledge bases, but together, we’re just a very powerful source of getting some goodness and doing some good to our community, to answer these questions,” said Polkabla.
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