Massive gas leak spurs legislation to avert future disasters

State Senator Fran Pavley, said on Monday, the older natural gas wells which are operated by Southern California Gas Co.in Aliso Canyon has to be closed down till they are declared safe by the state officials and an outside agency. Refined natural gas has been stored in former oil wells at Aliso Canyon since the 70’s; when the oil wells were emptied, they were repurposed for storage of natural gas.

SB 876: would require SoCal Gas to pay the cost of relocating residents and reducing greenhouse gas emissions out of its profits and not pass the cost onto customers.

The last straw for the Katz family was when their 2-yearold daughter, Ava, became ill and had to be put in intensive care at the hospital for a rash, nausea, headaches and an upper respiratory disorder. Gas injections are usually used in the latter, less productive part of a well’s life span, as a way to get every last drop of natural gas.

The gas company is paying for 2,300 people who live in Porter Ranch to live elsewhere. It would also require utilities to upgrade their leak response and communications plans so first responders and local authorities and residents are better informed. Foul-smelling additives that make highly flammable gas detectable have been blamed for maladies including irritated throats, coughs and respiratory problems.

SB 878: by Sen.

Methane is the main component of natural gas – colorless, odorless and potentially explosive when mixed with air. “[Methane] concentrates more and it’s more of an issue and people are gonna start to recognize that, and question again that while this is better certainly than coal, it’s not as good as we could be”.

One of Pavley’s proposed bills would stop the use of old wells-especially those from the 1950s, like the one that’s leaking- until they could be inspected and determined not to be a “risk to public health and safety”.

The Southern California Gas Co would be required to install a system to siphon off and incinerate some of the methane spewing into the air from a subterranean pipeline rupture under a plan being weighed by local regulators to curtail the huge leak. “I don’t have that magic number, but definitely over a mile”.

At a news conference Monday, DeLeon said more oversight is necessary to keep similar leaks from occurring in the future.

The leak rate has declined to about 38 million standard cubic feet of methane per day, which is equivalent to driving 4.5 million cars per day, O’Connor said in an interview with Mashable.

In one internal state report obtained by The Times, an agency official described that kill effort as a “blowout to surface”.

Areas eligible for relocation are based on data provided by South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD).

Shut down unsafe gas facilities – and go full tilt for renewables! The AQMD hearing board is considering approval of an agreement between the gas company and AQMD staff that is short of a complete shutdown. Please see our terms of service for more information.

“Don’t take cues from the gas company website of where the monitoring is and what the health risk is”, Rangan said. “For many years, I only cared for my business and my family, but the gas leak has made me feel a need to be more involved”.

“The tests that are being done now are very superficial”, she said.

“There is an array of a dozen sampling stations that sample gases once or twice a day”, Jackson said.

Air regulators and Southern California Gas Company, which owns the facility, recently agreed to burn off some of the methane.

The company said it has already spent $50 million on temporary housing and attempts to plug the well and that its insurance would cover more than $1 billion in losses and damages.

It’s important to hold the oil and gas sector accountable for all of the harms associated with leaks from its operations. SoCalGas has said it has not injected gas into the facility since October 25, and is drawing gas out as quickly as possible in order to lower the pressure inside the reservoir and reduce the rate of the leak.