A TV cameraman works as crews from Southern California Gas Company and outside experts work on a relief well at the Aliso Canyon gas field above the Porter Ranch section of northwest Los Angeles, California in this December 9, 2015 pool photo.
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LOS ANGELES – A leak from an underground natural gas storage facility that has sickened Los Angeles residents and sent thousands from their homes has been out of control for 12 weeks and a possible fix is expected no sooner than March.
Gov. Jerry Brown has declared an emergency.
Because the gas company’s company readings of benzene are taken instantaneously, air quality officials said they should be compared only to the state’s short-term health standard of 8 parts per billion, rather than the long-term standard of 1 ppb that is based on exposure over much of a lifetime.
An evaluation on the California governor’s Office of Emergency Services website says that the highest benzene level detected at Porter Ranch was half the level that is considered a potential short-term risk.
Garcetti said it’s still unknown exactly when the leak sprang and questions linger as to why it was reported to authorities a week after its discovery on October 23. But after the Associated Press inquired about discrepancies in the data, SoCalGas admitted higher-than-normal readings had been found at least 14 times. It’s pumped some 84,000 metric tons of methane – a potent greenhouse gas – into the air, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. That has roughly the same environmental impact as driving a fleet of 100,000 cars to the moon.
The preliminary assessment to be released Friday by the South Coast Air Quality Management District estimates that six months of exposure to benzene from the gas leak poses to Porter Ranch residents an increased cancer risk of up to 2 in a million, a level that is at or below benzene risk throughout the region. Though the chances of Porter Ranch residents developing cancer from the amount of benzene presented by the leak is very slim (a million to one), says one expert from UC Berkeley, “studies have shown that exposure of eight hours a day, up to seven days a week, may result in decreasing blood cell counts or other early markers of benzene toxicity”, says the LADN.
Friday night at 7:00pm, state officials will hold a meeting with residents at Shepherd of the Hills Church to discuss the latest on the gas leak.
The magazine reported that the utility company made six “kill” attempts, in which liquid is poured down the well to stanch the flow of natural gas, but none succeeded – the pressure of the gas pouring out was too intense.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health ordered the company to relocate anyone seeking to move while the leak continues.
Residents are also suing the company, which they say endangered people living near Aliso Canyon by failing to install a safety valve.
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Their monitors showed methane levels at 3.4 parts per billion, about twice the level of natural clean air, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. First things first, we must push for an immediate effort to shut down every natural gas well that lacks basic safety equipment, like shut off valves, before we end up with another Aliso Canyon. John Cadiz-Klemack reports for Today in LA on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016.
