Monterey Bay Matters

Vapor intrusion into buildings from underground plumes of contamination is a problem at Fort Ord and other contaminated sites. This is a public workshop for students, environmental and public health groups, citizen scientists, and other members of the public, as well as county and state officials, interested in collecting data on toxic exposures.

Vapor Intrusion: The Complete Picture from Fundamentals to Redevelopment – Working Together

Workshop 5: Collecting Quality Data to Support Effective and Efficient Vapor Intrusion Decision Making

The California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) Vapor Intrusion Workgroup (CalEPA VI Workgroup or Workgroup) is pleased to host five virtual public workshops to share and gain input on CalEPA’s efforts to address vapor intrusion at contaminated sites from February through June 2026. The fifth workshop in the series is Vapor Intrusion Data.

The workshop is virtual only with no physical location.

Workshop 5 Attendance Information

Collecting Quality Data to Support Effective and Efficient Vapor Intrusion Decision Making
November 17, 2026 (date subject to change)
9:00am – 2:00pm PST
PDF notice

Via Video and Teleconference Only
No Physical Meeting Location

Workshops will be recorded.

Zoom registration is required.
Zoom Registration Link:
Collecting Quality Data to Support Effective and Efficient Vapor Intrusion Decision Making Registration Link

This workshop will build on the previous workshops in CalEPA’s Vapor Intrusion Workshop Series, providing a deeper dive into collecting quality vapor data to support effective, efficient, and riskbased decision making.

Presentations from CalEPA staff and environmental cleanup professionals
will:

• Emphasize the importance of collecting quality vapor data to support building robust conceptual site models, developing multiple lines of evidence (both quantitative and qualitative), and making risk-based decisions;

• Walk through California’s VI guidance and tackle frequently asked questions;

• Review strategies for vapor data collection and field considerations for effective VI site investigations;

• Dive into data quality review, including data quality objectives, quality assurance and control, and laboratory considerations;

• Discuss the complexities of vapor intrusion and related data analyses;

• Review how vapor data is managed in GeoTracker and EnviroStor; and

• Share CalEPA’s takeaways from feedback received throughout the workshop series.

Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with industry professionals and regulators on current challenges and lessons learned around these topics during the workshop’s question and answer (Q&A) portions.

For any questions, please email the program host at: DWQ-vaporintrusion@waterboards.ca.gov

The California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) Vapor Intrusion Workgroup (CalEPA VI Workgroup or Workgroup) is pleased to host five virtual public workshops to share and gain input on CalEPA’s efforts to address vapor intrusion at contaminated sites from February through November 2026.

2026 Vapor Intrusion Workshop Series:

1. Vapor Intrusion Cleanup Case Basics Training – Feb 12, 2026
2. Vapor Intrusion in the Community – Feb 25, 2026
3. Vapor Intrusion Holistic Approach Part 1: Conceptual Site Model and Best Practices –
   March 10, 2026
4. Vapor Intrusion Holistic Approach Part 2: Paths to Closure and Risk Management DecisionMaking – May 14, 2026
5. Collecting Quality Data to Support Effective and Efficient Vapor Intrusion Decision Making – November 17, 2026 (final date is subject to change)

Background
The CalEPA VI Workgroup is a multi-agency workgroup consisting of DTSC [Department of Toxic Substances Control], the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), multiple Regional Water Quality Control Boards, and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) that serves as a technical and regulatory resource for addressing contaminated sites impacted by vapor intrusion across California. The CalEPA VI Workgroup is hosting this 2026 Vapor Intrusion Workshop Series to present and gather feedback on its efforts and approaches to addressing and managing vapor intrusion.

From Military Poisons

By Pat Elder
October 8, 2026

The statement from CSUMB President Carlos Vargas, Ph.D. addresses water quality concerns raised by a community group, noting the university is reviewing the data. The administration asserts that its facilities comply with all safety regulations, relying on the Marina Coast Water District (MCWD) 2025 report to claim that campus tap water meets federal and state standards. The Water District Report, , however, fails to include testing on PFAS.

While the Marina Coast Water District delivers PFAS-free water to off-campus areas like Abrams Drive, our testing reveals that tap water inside the Otter Student Union contains PFOA and PFOS concentrations above federal safety guidelines. The state says these toxins cause cancer.

Cancer?

We don’t know exactly what is causing the number of cancers reported on campus, although we have a good idea.

Julie Akey, MA, is a U.S. Army veteran and a graduate of the Defense Language Institute’s Arabic program. She lived at Fort Ord in 1996–97 and was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2017. Her experience led her to organize other former Fort Ord residents, veterans, dependents, and civilian workers who reported serious illnesses after living or working there. She wondered if others had been sickened by Multiple Myeloma, an incurable blood cancer. Julie founded the Facebook group Cancer and illnesses from Fort Ord military base. a forum for people concerned about illness and contamination connected to the former installation. She has also gathered an anonymous database that now contains information on more than 2,000 people who are ill or deceased and lived at Fort Ord or the community after the base closed. She managed to identify 200 who didn’t live too far away with Multiple Myloma.

Akey is also among the petitioners who sought a new federal evaluation of historical drinking-water exposures at Fort Ord, an examination that was carried out with a limited scope that fell far short of expectations. See the guest commentary by Julie Akey in the Monterey Herald, July 13, 2026. Fort Ord’s unanswered health questions

To add your name to the anonymous database contact fortordcontamination@gmail.com

https://www.militarypoisons.org/latest-news/university-says-it-is-reviewing-campus-water-quality-concerns

from Military Poisons

15 current or former students have reported
cancers and severe disease.

By Pat Elder
October 16, 2026

Students living in East Campus Housing, Promontory, and North Quad have reported severe life-threatening diseases.

Explore our database of more than 2,000 former Fort Ord residents who have illnesses or have died. For more information, contact fortordcontamination@gmail.com.

East Campus Housing Exposure Profile

The highly toxic Operable Unit 2 Landfills are shown west of Petersburg, Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, and Antietam courts in the CSUMB East Housing area.

California State University Monterey Bay, (CSUMB) East Campus Housing, was built by the Army in the late 1980s and early 1990s just before the base officially closed in 1994. It was transferred directly to CSUMB to serve as the university’s East Campus residential housing. Because it was physically separated from the main base’s contaminated heavy vehicle maintenance yards, where North Quad and Promontory Housing are located today, the Army assumed the land was safe for housing.  This neighborhood sits directly east and downwind of one of the base’s most significant environmental hazards: the Operable Unit 2 (OU2) Landfills, a massive 150-acre industrial and municipal dumping ground.

The OU2 Landfills at the former Fort Ord remain federally owned and under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army.  The landfills represent a volatile hazard buried directly adjacent to campus housing. Decades of unlined military dumping have allowed cancer-causing chemicals like trichloroethylene (TCE), vinyl chloride, PFOS, and PFOA to seep into the earth. While much of the waste was buried in pits, the danger is dynamic and expanding: a massive, toxic groundwater plume travels persistently eastward, positioning itself directly underneath the CSUMB East Campus housing and surrounding student apartments. The most frightening threat to these college apartments is vapor intrusion. Because TCE and vinyl chloride are highly volatile organic compounds, they do not stay trapped in the soil or groundwater. Instead, they evaporate into toxic gases that migrate upward through the soil, silently seeping through concrete cracks and foundations into indoor living spaces. For students living just a few hundred feet from the landfill boundary, this creates an invisible trap where breathing the air in their own bedrooms potentially exposes them to a toxic stew of weaponized industrial solvents.

Continue reading “– Investigation finds dangerous neighborhoods at CSU Monterey Bay”

From US Army Fort Ord Cleanup website

Prescribed Burn Postponed to 2027.

Update 7/15/2026: The Army will not conduct a prescribed burn in 2026. The Army has been implementing early coordination of various aspects of burn preparation, however, it is now unlikely that all resource and site preparations could be completed by the September-October timeframe. The Army will prepare again for the Unit A burn during the 2027 or later burn season. Due to habitat conservation considerations, the burn season at Fort Ord is July to December. Please continue to check this website for updates on the prescribed burn program.

https://fortordcleanup%5Bdot%5Dcom/prescribed-burns/

Some background on the burns and overview:

https://vimeo.com/1167008631

https://www.militarypoisons.org/latest-news/prescribed-burns-at-fort-ord-are-an-environmental-disaster

https://www.militarypoisons.org/latest-news/blowin-in-the-wind-communities-at-risk-from-fort-ord-burns

https://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/05.13.99/fort-ord-9919.html
MetroActive: Scorched Earth
Cecily Barnes
May 13, 1999

https://apnews.com/article/us-army-fort-ord-chemical-exposure-cancer-c1078dd520322f2a4130e2f7077b7892
https://youtu.be/weAzmDcfS2w
Associated Press: What Lies Beneath: Veterans Worry Polluted Base Made Them Ill
By Martha Mendoza, Juliet Linderman, and Jason Dearen
February 23, 2022

From League of Women Voters Monterey County

November Election Ballot Measures-Pros and Cons
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
12:00pm – Lunch ($25, reservations required)
12:30 pm – Program (free)

Unitarian Universalist Church
490 Aguajito
(at the top of Carmel Hill, south side of Highway 1/ Jacks Peak)
Carmel, California 93923

The League of Women Voters of Monterey County will present a free talk titled: “November 3, 2026 Ballot Measures-Pros and Cons” at noon on Wednesday October 14, 2026.  

Each election season, a team from LWVMC develops a “Pros & Cons” presentation, a dispassionate summary of the main elements of the California ballot propositions, the arguments in favor of and in opposition to each, and a list of key supporters and opponents along with information about financial contributors. 

This year’s Pros and Cons presenters are MaryEllen Dick, Paul Fleischman, Marianne Gawain, and Dennis Mar. With fourteen propositions on the ballot, slimming down the slide deck has been no small feat. 

At the October Lunch & Learn, you’ll receive a whirlwind tour that will orient you to fourteen important, and sometimes complex, decisions you’ll want to make before casting your ballot in the November 3, election. 

The “Lunch and Learn” meeting will be held at at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 490 Aguajito Road  Carmel CA 93923 

Registration at 11:30    Lunch is at 12:00 and Program at 12:30

Lunch costs $25 per person and payment is at the door by cash or check. Reservations for lunch are required! 

Lunch includes grilled salmon, rice, Greek salad, hummus, pita bread and baklava for dessert. Catering by Chef Faris Nimry, International Cuisine of Pacific Grove.

Contact Beverly Bean at beverlygb[at]gmail.com or 831-236-1611 to make a reservation until noon on Monday October 12, 2026.

This talk will be recorded and posted on the LWVMC website (under Videos):lwvmryco.org

https://my.lwv.org/california/monterey-county/event/mry-county-lwv-lunch-and-learn-presents-pros-and-cons-14-statewide-ballot-propositions

From Becky Steinbruner

On KSCO 1080 AM:

Friday, October 9

Community Matters – 2pm-3pm (Pacific Time)
Guest Mr. Juan Hidalgo, Monterey County Ag Commissioner, will discuss how the recent Moss Landing battery fire has affected safety of crops being harvested now as well as the farmworkers in those fields during and after the fire. 

Is the food being sampled for contaminants from the smoke plume?  Also, how did Monterey County react to protect the public?  What is the action plan for the next fire?

Bratton on KSCO  6pm-7pm Pacific Time
Guests Scotts Valley Fire and Central Fire Marshal Erin Collins and Firefighter Kevin Laine will discuss lithium battery fires and how to avoid home and electric vehicle fires due to lithium battery charging problems.  National Fire Prevention Week is October 4-10, with the theme “Charge Into Fire Safety”, focusing on lithium battery fire awareness.

Call in and join the conversation! 831-479-1080.

Listen in at 2pm-3pm and 6pm-7pm Pacific Time on KSCO Radio AM 1080 and. FM 104.1, 95.7 & 107.9. KOMY AM 1340, or listen live online: http://www.ksco.com/

The programs will be recorded and posted on the KSCO website: http://www.ksco.com/

Becky Steinbruner interview September 25, 2026 on KSCO “Community Matters” with Ed Mitchell, lead investigator for Never Again Moss Landing (https://neveragainmosslanding.org/), and Scott Smith, Founder of Blue Shirt Justice League (https://goblueshirtjustice.org/) with additional information on Peggy Dixon’s disclosures. They participated in a press conference earlier that day (press release and background).

From Never Again Moss Landing

Press release
September 24, 2026
– – – –
CONTACT: Brian Roeder
INFO@NEVERAGAINMOSSLANDING.ORG
831-737-0689

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24th, 2026

PRESS ADVISORY: MEDIA EXPOSÉ & ANNOUNCEMENT

“GAMED” AIR DATA, IGNORED WARNINGS, AND THE REIGNITION
CRISIS: WHISTLEBLOWER REVELATIONS OF DATA FALSIFICATION VS
NEW SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS AT MOSS LANDING

MOSS LANDING, CA — On Friday, September 25, 2026, at 9:00 AM PST, community advocates and independent environmental investigators will hold a high-impact media briefing directly in front of the damaged Vistra facility
stacks.
Following the September 18th reignition of the Moss Landing battery complex—and explosive federal whistleblower revelations detailing how corporate contractors manipulated toxic air monitoring data— presenters will reveal how testing was “gamed,” why public agencies were left blind to active plume contents, and how scientists and an independent team is taking matters into their own hands.

EVENT DETAILS

WHEN: Friday, September 25, 2026, at 9:00 AM PST

WHERE: Behind the former Whole Enchilada restaurant, 7902 Highway 1, Moss Landing, CA 95039

SPEAKERS:
– Tonya Rivera, and Brian Roeder, Co-Founders of Never Again Moss Landing
– Ed Mitchell, Lead Investigator for Never Again Moss Landing
– Scott Smith, Nationally Recognized Independent Environmental Investigator & Testing Expert

WHAT: Whistleblower Disclosures Linking CTEH Practices to Moss Landing Oversight: On September 23, 2026, The Wall Street Journal exposed a sworn federal whistleblower complaint filed by the Government Accountability Project
against Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health (CTEH) – Now rebranded as Onterris—Vistra’s client-retained environmental contractor at Moss Landing.

Whistleblower Bombshells:
– The whistleblower affidavit details widespread practices where field teams documenting the East Palestine train derailment disaster were pressured to produce “zeroes” or non-detects, downgrade toxic exposure readings, and manipulate air monitoring data—raising immediate questions about the validity of safety claims issued to the Moss Landing community.
– Testing methods were structured to minimize recorded exceedances of state and federal health-based screening thresholds.
– Allegations detail the deliberate miscalibration or relocation of handheld monitoring instruments away from visible toxic plumes and downwind residential areas to artificially dilute baseline concentration measurements.
– Sampling data for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter, and combustion byproducts was routinely filtered, delayed, or selectively released.
– Throughout the January 2025 fire and subsequent cleanup phases, the EPA, Vistra and CTEH have repeatedly assured the citizens of the Monterey Bay Area that air sampling showed “no levels of concern” or health risks outside the site facility fence line. The whistleblower disclosures cast immediate doubt on the
integrity and accuracy of these claims.
– CTEH operates as a client-retained contractor whose financial compensation flows directly from corporate polluters. The report highlights how this structure creates an inherent conflict of interest, prioritizing liability
mitigation for facility owners over public health protection.
– The whistleblower was also deployed to the Moss Landing site in the immediate aftermath of the January 16th 2025 explosion.

Presentation of Independent Testing Findings by Scott Smith:
– Nationally recognized environmental investigator Scott Smith will present background on CTEH’s ongoing efforts to hide and minimize the toxic impacts at the East Palestine OH, Moss Landing, and other industrial disaster sites while in the employ of corporate toxic polluters.
– Smith’s findings directly challenge reports produced by Vistra, CTEH, and Terraphase Engineering that claimed no health-based thresholds were exceeded or that no further health evaluations were warranted.

Continue reading “– Never Again Moss Landing advisory for press conference September 25, 2026”

The Government Accountability Project (GAP) has just released documents on CTEH, the consultant hired to test and report on the East Palestine rail disaster, and hired by Vistra in the Moss Landing battery fire.

First, whistleblower Peggy Dixon has detailed in a stunning affidavit what she witnessed when she worked as a contractor for CTEH at East Palestine and at Moss Landing.

I am submitting this statement of my firsthand knowledge of the widespread coverup of environmental testing fraud, false and misleading data reporting, safety violations, intentional and negligent actions which worsened disaster impact to the health of communities and workers as well as worker retaliation I witnessed and experienced while working for Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health (CTEH), a contractor for Norfolk Southern in the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment disaster cleanup. CTEH, which became Montrose Environmental on April 14, 2020, and was rebranded in April 2026 as Onterris Inc.1 2 These actions, which I personally observed, were part of a coordinated effort by government and corporate entities to conceal the true environmental and public health impacts of the derailment and open burn of five vinyl chloride train cars.

In East Palestine, CTEH conducted air and surface water sampling and monitoring at the East Palestine derailment site under its Sampling and Analysis Plans which governed work-area, personal, and community sampling for contaminants including n-butyl acrylate and vinyl chloride.3 4 Many of the same flawed testing methodologies, data gaps, and reporting deficiencies observed during the East Palestine response were repeated during subsequent CTEH deployments including the January 2025 lithium-ion battery fire in Moss Landing, California.5

This incident also affected the health of nearby residents and occurred in close proximity to protected coastal waters in a region commonly referred to as the ‘Salad Bowl of the World.'” (from the Introduction)

The second is an 11-page letter to the EPA Inspector General on September 23, 2026 — Hotline complaint regarding EPA’s oversight of responsible-party environmental monitoring including false records by a contractor in the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment response; request for investigation based on the sworn disclosure of a former CTEH environmental scientist; and retaliation complaint under 41 U.S.C. Sec. 4712.

“Ms. Dixon charges that the monitoring program EPA co-authored, approved, and relied upon was operated to falsely produce non-detections rather than to accurately characterize contamination, and further, after roughly the first month of “monitoring” the EPA ceased exercising meaningful independent
verification of the responsible party’s data.”

“…EPA was also present and participated in side-by-side air sampling that employed fraudulent testing practices that downplayed or dismissed detections, including indoor air screening that wrongly told residents that it was safe to return home. “

“Ms. Dixon’s attempts to ensure lawful compliance were shortly met by an aggressive retaliatory company response of reckless and dangerous assignments and changes in working conditions, as well as punitive removal of assignments.”

The third document gives some of the specifics of her affidavit pertaining to the Moss Landing Vistra battery fire, which includes this:

Becky Steinbruner interview September 25, 2026 on KSCO “Community Matters” with Ed Mitchell, lead investigator for Never Again Moss Landing (https://neveragainmosslanding.org/), and Scott Smith, Founder of Blue Shirt Justice League (https://goblueshirtjustice.org/) discussed Peggy Dixon’s disclosures and the failures of agencies to sample the plumes via drones or sample the building debris or use “ghost” wipes to sample fallout.

The fourth is a report from DOD released to the Government Accountability Project via Freedom of Information Act requests about the East Palestine train derailment fires and “vent and burn” decision. This report was from the Interagency Modeling and Atmospheric Assessment Project, which involves DHS, NOAA, DOD, DOE, EPA, NRC, and HHS. GAP’s press release Buried Records Undercut Justification for East Palestine Vent-and-Burn August 25 explains the report and subsequent documents they received. It reveals federal agencies that were fully apprised of injuries and deaths that would occur with the E. Palestine fire and the area impacted before authorities made the decision the blow up the tanker cars, worsening the contamination and spreading toxins over a greater area. The report shows the federal knowledge of the actual toxicity of the situation, in contrast to federal assurances to the public.

Because of the extent of alleged federal and corporate corruption exposed by Peggy Dixon’s disclosures, and the lack of protection for whistleblowers, some have warned that her life may be in danger. “Suicides,” “heart attacks,” automobile crashes, and unexplained deaths have occurred to other whistleblowers.