California Declares State Of Emergency Over Monthslong Gas Leak

In a statement, SoCal Gas Chief Executive Dennis Arriola said “our focus remains on quickly and safely stopping the leak and minimizing the impact to our neighbors in Porter Ranch”.

The Porter Ranch neighborhood of Los Angeles is officially in a state of emergency, according to a declaration by California Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday.

Porter Ranch residents can receive as much as $9,000 from the Southern California Gas Co.to be used for relocation expenses.

Equipment and machinery is seen on a ridge above a natural gas well in Southern California Gas Company’s vast Aliso Canyon facility before it began leaking.

The utility is paying to relocate thousands of households after residents complained of nosebleeds, nausea and other ailments from the fumes. The leak has emitted 33 tons of natural gas per hour since it was detected on October 23.

An overhead photo of the leaking Aliso Canyon well pad that is polluting Porter Ranch. Unlike with most emergency proclamations, however, he did not suspend state laws, cut red tape or commit more resources or public funds to address the leak.

Brown’s order also calls for emergency regulations requiring operators of gas storage facilities around the state to take new safety and reliability precautions.

Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles school board already have declared the crisis an emergency, moving students out of two schools in the neighbourhood.

Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), which owns and operates the storage facility, has been constructing a relief well to stop the leak, which the company was unable to plug in the days and weeks immediately following the breach.

Environmentalists were quick to respond to Brown’s declaration.

Pakucko, speaking from a hotel where the gas company had moved him and his girlfriend, said he faced doubts from his community about pressing the governor to declare an emergency. The utility says it might not be able to fix the leak until late March. Methane is an incredibly potent greenhouse gas; it traps 86 times more heat over a 20-year period than carbon dioxide does.

Sherman suggested that SoCalGas work with other electric generation facilities “to cause them to withdraw and to use natural gas at the same rate as if it was the hottest day in August or coldest day in January”, he wrote. “We are seeing another potentially catastrophic man-made disaster with far-reaching impacts on the environment and public health”, the three said in a statement. On Wednesday, he called for an independent review of gas-storage sites and wells across California.

In other words, this is a step towards recognizing this leak as one of the very bad things that can happen in a natural gas system that it not adequately regulated or maintained.

Brown also directed state energy and environmental agencies to study the long-term viability of natural gas storage facilities in the state, both from a safety and climate change perspective.