California Gov. Brown Declares State of Emergency Amid Massive Gas Leak

Southern California Gas Co., the company that owns the leaking well, last week determined the location of the well pipe responsible, though they’ve so far been unable to determine exactly where the well was breached.

Two and a half months after a gas leak at the Aliso Canyon Storage Facility in the San Fernando Valley started, and still has not been stopped, California Gov. Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency.

The leakage stems from a vast underground storage field in Porter Ranch, on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

The Porter Ranch gas leak may not stop until February or March.

Residents have complained of headaches, nosebleeds and nausea, and two nearby elementary schools have shut down.

The leak has been spewing 33 tons of methane per hour into the atmosphere, making it the largest gas leak in history and the worst environmental disaster since the BP oil spill. According to the lawsuit, 5.7 billion cubic feet of gas was injected and with similar amounts again in October, which is when one of the injection wells suffered a massive well failure and blowout, and resulted in gas from SoCal Gas leaking into the air and the water table.

Brown only toured the leak area earlier this week. For many families living in the region, frustration over what they perceive as a slow response to the leak has turned into exasperation.

After drilling in 1953, the well was initially provided with a safety valve, which was removed in 1979 as it was old and leaking, but the removal did not require a replacement.

A methane leak of this scale appears to be without precedent, representatives of both an environmental group and the gas company told Lobet. Porter Ranch residents are also suing the company for negligence.

Brown contends that SoCal Gas should bear all related expenses from the leak.

Others, though, criticized the governor for failing to address California’s systemic natural gas infrastructure issues earlier, in effect saying the state of emergency was too little, too late. Southern California Gas Co. will also be required to pay for the costs generated by the response to the leak, while ensuring ratepayers will be protected from any increase.