California Declares State Of Emergency Over Months-Long Gas Leak

A state of emergency has been declared in California over a massive natural-gas leak that has been spewing fumes into a Los Angeles neighbourhood for months.

Some landlords in nearby Woodland Hills and Northridge have jacked up rents since the gas leak was discovered in late October in Aliso Canyon. The escape of tons of natural gas neighborhood is taking months to stop because of pressure from the leak.

The company said in the filing that it expects to keep running up similar costs at least until the well is capped. For example, state law bars landlords from hiking rents by more than 10 percent after a declaration of emergency, which Gov. Brown made on Wednesday.

Brown has ordered the Southern California Gas Company to identify a backup plan for stopping the leak if the current strategy – drilling relief wells, then filling the leak with mud and cement – doesn’t work.

Also Thursday, Democratic leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee in Washington wrote seeking answers from the heads of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which share jurisdiction over the leak.

The California Attorney General’s office told KPCC that it couldn’t confirm receiving complaints about the rise in rental prices in the area because that information is to be kept private.

Thousands of families fleeing the ongoing gas leak near Porter Ranch for temporary homes have new problems: a low housing supply and sky-high rents.

Two weeks ago, Ingrid Lobet reported for NPR on how the leak was affecting local families – and why it’s so hard to shut down.