Each facility would also have to draft a risk management plan that would examine the corrosion potential of pipes and other safety threats.
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Brown said he wanted SoCalGas to cover all the expenses associated with the leak at its Aliso Canyon Storage Facility.
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.
Under the order, “all state agencies will utilize state personnel, equipment, and facilities to ensure a continuous and thorough state response to this incident”, according to a statement released by the governor.
“It has become so complex and there are so many different state agencies involved that it needs to be coordinated and directed in an organized way, like for a disaster”, said Kelly Huston, deputy director of the governor’s Office of Emergency Services. For weeks residents and elected officials have called on Brown to elevate the catastrophic leak to emergency status, which, they said, could help make state funding available to aid the community.
And in a move that suggests the gas company has not been transparent about the impacts of the Porter Ranch gas leak, Southern California Gas Co. will have to report on all of the company’s actions and reports related to the leak.
The governor, who visited Porter Ranch on Monday, in his declaration called for regulators to assess the long-term viability of natural gas storage facilities in California.
The storage field is the second largest such facility in the western United States by capacity.
The lack of regulation suggests it is unlikely that criminal charges will brought against SoCalGas, but the governor’s office said both the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources and the California Public Utilities Commission are investigating the leak. The sister is a member of the board of directors at Sempra Energy, a subsidiary of Southern California Gas Company (SoCal Gas), the company responsible for the leak.
Under the plan, the gas company would pay for projects to reduce emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases in the state.
The massive leak amounts to about a quarter of the state’s total output of methane, one of the most potent gases in climate change.
SoCal Gas has tried to plug the leak on several occasions, according to the LA Times. That’s essential. The Porter Ranch leak makes clear the hidden costs of our dependence on fossil fuels.
This comes after state officials declared in December that a state of emergency was not necessary. The company has proposed a number of measures to reduce emissions and odors.
An overhead photo of the leaking Aliso Canyon well pad that is polluting Porter Ranch.
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“I’m not anxious about being validated or vindicated, but that people get what they need”, he said.
