Brian Seligman holds a sign to protest a gas leak in the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles before a meeting of the California Air Quality Management District in Granada Hills, Jan. 9, 2016.
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The Porter Ranch gas leak has been permanently sealed, California Department of Conservation Chief Deputy Director Jason Marshall confirmed during a news conference Thursday morning. Residents in the area were forced to relocate to temporary housing while state, federal and SoCalGas officials worked to control the leak.
The entrance to Southern California Gas Co.’s Aliso Canyon storage facility.
The latest estimate for the amount of methane emitted from the leaking well, taken on 13 February, is 94,067,040kg (94,000 metric tonnes), according to the California Air Resources Board.
The Sempra Energy division reportedly faces four misdemeanor charges for failing to report the release of hazardous materials and discharging air contaminants beginning.
A state of emergency was issued by the governor last month.
The announcement came a week after the Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) said it had “temporarily” stopped the leak following a delicate operation that involved pouring cement and heavy fluids into the more than 8,400 feet deep well.
“All injection activity into the Aliso Canyon facility remains suspended until a comprehensive review, utilizing independent experts of the safety of the storage wells is completed”.
The well, also at the largest gas storage facility in the West, was operating for more than 60 years before the rupture.
On Dec. 4, 2015, SoCalGas started drilling a relief well to stop the natural gas leak by plugging the well at its base. It was reused in the 1970s to pump natural gas into the empty oil wells for storage and withdraw it when demand spiked.
But the polluting methane wasn’t what sickened many Porter Ranch residents who complained of nausea, nosebleeds, headaches and other symptoms.
“With this new webpage, residents can find the information and resources they need regarding these natural gas storage facilities in one place”, said Santa Clarita Mayor Bob Kellar in a statement. Some 6,000 families have reportedly applied for temporary relocation to short-term housing such as hotels and rental houses, and thousand have already moved.
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Now that the leak has been capped, thousands of occupants of Porter Ranch who had been relocated will no longer be receiving relocation support from the gas utility.
