After weeks in which residents of the Porter Ranch district of Los Angeles have reported a bad smell, nosebleeds, headaches, dizziness, and vomiting, the source of their illness was confirmed last month: the largest gas leak in history, coming from a storage well operated by the Southern California Gas Company.
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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”.
An overhead photo of the leaking Aliso Canyon well pad that is polluting Porter Ranch.
The governor ordered state agencies to “utilize all necessary state personnel, equipment, and facilities to ensure a continuous and thorough response to this incident”.
The governor is also initiating emergency regulations at gas storage facilities across the state, including regular inspection and testing and ongoing measurement of the gas flow within wells. Other Craigslist listings have titles such as “Short Term Lease for Porter Ranch Residents”, and “Perfect for Families Affected by Gas Leak”. Brown only toured the leak area earlier this week. They’ve got their work cut out for them-methane is a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide, and the leak accounts for a whopping 25 percent of the state’s daily emissions. The utility says it might not be able to fix the leak until late March. On Wednesday, some of those groups now expressed relief.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors also declared a state of emergency in December, under which similar restrictions on rent increases also take effect.
The well at the Aliso Canyon storage facility, just north of Los Angeles, is releasing tens of thousands of kilograms of methane per hour.
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