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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The leak, which state officials have said accounts for a fourth of California’s greenhouse gas emissions from methane at its peak, is believed to have been caused by a broken injection-well pipe several hundred feet beneath the surface of the 3,600-acre (1,457-hectare) field. Much of it blew into the residential area about a mile away by the the winds that characterise the San Fernando valley area where Porter Ranch lies, producing a smell inhabitants compared to rotten eggs.
In other words, this is a step towards recognizing this leak as one of the very bad things that can happen in a natural gas system that it not adequately regulated or maintained.
The primary utility, Southern California Gas, has said the leak likely won’t be sealed until late February, at the earliest.
Since October, huge quantities of methane gas have been escaping from an underground gas storage facility in Aliso Canyon in the city’s north-west. “The more gas extracted and incinerated, the less gas will leak into the environment and sicken residents”.
Mayor Eric Garcetti joined local residents and activists in welcoming the emergency declaration. Governor ordered that all necessary and viable actions be taken to stop it. Wednesday declared the gas leak in Porter Ranch a state of emergency.
California Governor Jerry Brown proclaimed emergency at the request of residents and local officials due to the prolonged and continuing gas leakage.
Equipment and machinery is seen on a ridge above a natural gas well in Southern California Gas Company’s vast Aliso Canyon facility before it began leaking. “The state has known for years that aging natural gas infrastructure was a disaster waiting to happen, but officials mostly ignored those risks”. Additionally, the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission will submit to the governor’s office a report that assesses the long-term viability of natural gas storage facilities in California.
“I’m not anxious about being validated or vindicated, but that people get what they need”, he said.
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The massive leak amounts to about a quarter of the state’s total methane output, a big blow to Brown’s plans to cut carbon emissions. He said he had his own concerns that Brown might not take strong enough action but was pleased in the end.
