SoCal Gas plugs leaking natural gas well

“Maybe now we are seeing some stuff that has always been there that’s not as bad as the big leak, but it will take a while to see what’s going on”.

The moment came early Thursday, when crews at Southern California Gas Co.’s Aliso Canyon storage field intercepted the base of the leaking well – more than 8,000 feet deep, at the depth of the natural gas reservoir – via a relief well and began pumping heavy fluids to temporarily control the flow of gas upward.

“We have temporarily controlled the natural gas flow from the leaking well and begun the process of sealing the well and permanently stopping the leak”, Jimmie Cho, SoCalGas senior vice president of gas operations, said in a statement.

The well still needs to be permanently sealed, which the company said will require injecting cement, which could take several days to complete.

Officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health have said they do not believe the gas leak poses any long-term risk, but it plans to continue monitoring air quality in the area.

In December, activists from the Environmental Defense Fund were using thermal photography and video to make the gas plume visible. Thousands of people were forced to relocate, and the company has been hit by lawsuits – including from the state’s attorney general Kamala Harris, as well as Los Angeles County criminal charges.

“Palmdale, Lancaster, Riverside, San Bernardino…People are report their bills are in excess of $500”, the councilman said people who live in the city Los Angeles are not the only ones complaining.

“Most of the families in the community are very excited to get back, but they will not be distracted by the leak stoppage”.

Englander has described the leak as an “invisible tsunami”. In addition to allowing huge amounts of methane – a potent greenhouse gas – to escape, the utility is accused of understating the levels of the cancer-causing chemical benzene.

State officials have said the leak accounts for a fourth of California’s greenhouse gas emissions from methane at its peak.

The filing, published on Thursday, also said significantly more households have been relocated by SoCal Gas than the company published in a recent press release.

Southern California Gas is working with California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources to permanently plug the well.