Los Angeles prosecutors filed misdemeanor criminal charges Tuesday against a utility for failing to immediately report a natural gas leak that has been gushing nonstop almost 15 weeks.
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LA County District Attorney Jackie Lacey has filed charges against Southern California Gas Company for the leak at its facility in Aliso Canyon. The criminal complaint charges the gas company with one count of discharge of air contaminants and three counts of failing to report the release of a hazardous, as reported by Al Jazeera.
The lawsuit also cites environmental damage caused by the uncontrolled release of 80,000 tonnes of methane, the prime component of natural gas and a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
A new criminal complaint says that a Southern California gas leak is causing serious health problems.
“The impact of this unprecedented gas leak is devastating to families in our state, our environment and our efforts to combat global warming”, Ms Harris said in a statement. An arraignment is scheduled for February 17, Lacey’s office said.
A spokesperson for SoCalGas told The Daily Beast, “We have just been notified of this filing and we are still reviewing it. We have been working with regulatory agencies to mitigate the odors associated with the natural gas leak and to abate the gas leak as quickly as safety allows”. Tuesday over the company’s massive ongoing methane leak on the outskirts of Los Angeles. “Meanwhile, the fumes from thousands of tons of methane gas have created a public health nightmare”. The emissions also contain trace amounts of other harmful chemicals, including the carcinogen benzene.
The objective of the new regulations is “being able to detect these emissions in an early phase so we know as soon as possible that they’re happening and if something does happen, there is a responsibility to look at the emission reduction side of it as well”, said Elizabeth Scheehle, branch chief of the Oil and Gas and GHG Mitigation Branch.
The recommendations from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration are not formal regulations, but are the agency’s first step toward addressing what some view as a lack of oversight of underground gas storage fields.
The company said in a statement that it will vigorously defend itself in court. “The gas leak deteriorated her health and ultimately hastened her death”. “Beyond that, we do not comment on pending litigation and will respond to the lawsuit through the judicial process”.
The criminal charges come on the same day that California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced a civil lawsuit against the company for violations of the state health and safety code.
Boxer stood by a dramatic infrared photo that showed the otherwise invisible plume of methane-laced natural gas from the blowout.
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“If there’s not enough natural gas, the end result could be that we couldn’t meet the full demand of our customers”, he said.
