SoCal Gas Co. crews expect to cap the storage facility leak by early March.
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Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is 87 times more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.
The methane gas it leaks, experts have repeatedly told us, is not toxic when it’s dispersed into open air as is the case at Aliso Canyon.
SoCal Gas says that “scientists agree natural gas is not toxic and that its odorant is harmless at the minute levels at which it is added to natural gas”.
Today is day 84 of a runaway natural gas leak above Los Angeles that has emitted more than 150 million pounds of methane, described as the nation’s biggest environmental disaster since the BP oil spill. Now, due to Brown’s declaration, California regulatory bodies, including the Air Resources Board, will be required to assess the long-term viability of natural gas storage facilities in California.
Methane gas has been leaking since October from a 62-year-old well that failed at the Aliso Canyon facility, forcing residents and even an elementary school to relocate while repairs are made over the next two months. Porter Ranch wells were drilled in the 1950s. This mud was used to try to “drown” the well during the first several attempts to plug the leak. The analysis included an assessment of benzene and other toxic chemicals and concluded that “available Porter Ranch neighborhood air sample data does not indicate that an acute toxicity health hazard exists in the Porter Ranch neighborhood as a result of the Aliso Canyon natural gas leak”.
Some have revealed far more methane is leaking out of America’s gas infrastructure than previously understood. This is because heavy mud and brine has to be delivered near the origin of the gas in order to cut off the flow of gas toward the surface. The relief well drilling began on December 4 and has been taking place 24 hours a day, seven days a week, though El Nino-driven storms have disrupted drilling operations in recent weeks. Collectively, about a third of the gas stored in these state reservoirs is derived from fracking, according to the 2015 report by the California Council on Science and Technology. To look at it another way, the leaking Aliso Canyon gas storage facility supplies millions of kitchen ovens with the blue flame prized by home chefs. It will also propose requiring all natural gas storage facilities to be inspected within the next 12 months and at least once annually thereafter, Pavley said.
So Cal Gas has said the well in question did not have a safety valve because the law did not require it. The leaking well was installed in 1953 as an oil well and converted to a gas storage well in 1973.
Because nearby communities – and the global climate – can not afford any more disasters, Earthworks, a nonprofit that works to protect communities from the adverse impacts of energy development, is working hand-in-hand with community groups to push for significant regulatory changes and enforcement.
Residents who have fled the greenhouse gas have encountered other problems along the way.
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Another bill would prevent SoCal Gas from storing more gas in vacant oil fields a mile and a half underground until regulators determine the facility is safe.
