Mike Mizrahi, SoCalGas spokesperson, speaks to the media about controling the flow of gas leaking at the Aliso Canyon well on Thursday, February 11, 2016.
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“The announcement today about the leak is just more hot air…”
Yet the leak at the largest underground gas storage facility in the West did have significant effects on the environment by releasing huge amounts of climate-altering methane emissions.
The gas leak over the past three months has spewed greenhouse gases that will significantly contribute to global warming, experts have warned.
The company has relocated more than 4,500 households but said that once inspectors confirm the leak has ended the company will “start winding down its temporary relocation program”.
While the gas was invisible, its impact could be seen in half-vacant subdivisions, two shuttered schools and on the faces of angry residents who packed public meetings and community forums and demanded the Aliso Canyon storage facility be shut down.
It was piped out during cold months or to fuel gas-run electricity plants during energy spikes.
Paula Cracium, who lives in the area, says residents are eager to return home and apprehensive about returning to normal.
“Everything is really temporary and we won’t know for sure until that thing is cemented top to bottom, which by the way they’re not going to do in the first step”, Pakucko said. All residents who requested relocation assistance from SoCalGas should note that the company will attempt to call or email them. Once the leak has been officially fixed, the relocated residents will have seven nights to move back into their homes, as per the terms of an agreement reached between the gas company and the LA city attorney’s office, under which the ousted residents are compensated for living elsewhere.
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“According to the Los Angeles Times, the company has been ordered not to “‘remove, temporarily store, bury or raze’ anything within a 400-foot radius of the wellhead”, so that investigations into SoCal Gas’ actions can begin. Many residents are concerned about plummeting home values “now that Porter Ranch is associated with this disaster”, while others fear their homes may be contaminated, or that a similar incident may occur down the line. “It’s on trees and vegetable gardens, plus inside people’s homes…Is it really safe to go into our homes?”
