The Lithium-Ion Battery ‘Energy Storage’ Facility Blaze You Hadn’t Heard About…Is Still Burning

[rangerrebew]

The Lithium-Ion Battery ‘Energy Storage’ Facility Blaze You Hadn’t Heard About…Is Still Burning
MAY 29, 2024
tags: batteries
By Paul Homewood

 

It’s not a laptop in first class or a cheap Chinese scooter smoking ominously in the plane’s cargo hold. Nor is it a massive commercial ship packed to the gills with cars being transported across an ocean that has had one of the EVs parked onboard light off, and now the whole vessel is hopelessly ablaze. It’s not another fiery EV in a driveway or garage or the solar panels on a rooftop, even though I have covered all of those.


Comments regular Global Traveler turned me on to an ongoing drama in, of all places, San Diego County that should be ringing alarm bells all over the country. His heads-up was the first I’d heard of it, and it’s immediately obvious why.


Last Wednesday, the 15th of May, the Gateway Energy Storage Facility in Otay Mesa erupted into flames. It took firefighters an exhausting 24 hours to "extinguish" the blaze.

https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2024/05/29/the-lithium-ion-battery-energy-storage-facility-blaze-you-hadnt-heard-about-is-still-burning/

[Smokin Joe]

Once again, between smoke and water running off, a tremendous amount of lithium ions are being carried into the environment, some in aqueous solution, others as particulates or chemical pollutants.
Where is the Hazmat information, and what, exactly are the near and long term health risks from those combustion products for the environment in general and humans (not just the First Responders, but anyone in the area or in areas receiving runoff from firefighting efforts) in particular?
Lithium MSDS:
https://nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/1119.pdf

[mountaineer]

A Vast, Untapped Source of Lithium Has Just Been Found in The US
18 May 2024
By Carly Cassella

Almost two centuries after California's gold rush, the United States is on the brink of a lithium rush. As demand for the material skyrockets, government geologists are rushing to figure out where the precious element is hiding.

In September 2023, scientists funded by a mining company reported finding what could be the largest deposit of lithium in an ancient US supervolcano. Now public researchers on the other side of the country have uncovered another untapped reservoir – one that could cover nearly half the nation's lithium demands.

It's hiding in wastewater from Pennsylvania's gas fracking industry.

Lithium is arguably the most important element in the nation's renewable energy transition – the material of choice for electric vehicle batteries. And yet, there is but one large-scale lithium mine in the US, meaning for the moment the country has to import what it needs.

Officials at the US Department of Energy are desperate to change that. By 2030, they want all lithium produced domestically. ...

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-vast-untapped-source-of-lithium-has-just-been-found-in-the-us

It's possible Ohio and W.Va. also could become big players in lithium production, given the amount of gas production in the region.

See also Researchers in Pittsburgh discover large source of lithium in Pennsylvania, from KDKA TV.