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Residents Flee, Home Sales Collapse 44% Following Biggest Gas Leak In History

April 7, 2016

Residents Flee, Home Sales Collapse 44% Following Biggest Gas Leak In History

The “Fukushima class disaster” that emerged from Aliso Canyon’s worst ever gas leak has left behind more than just medical and human issues. According to RealtyTrac, in the three months following the discovery of the gas leak in late October 2015, home sales in the Porter Ranch zip code (91326) plunged 44%, and “market disruption is further signified by the number of families that requested relocation out of the Porter Ranch area.”

As a reminder of just what happened in the Porter Ranch area… 

“the enormity of the Aliso Canyon gas leak cannot be overstated. Gas is escaping through a ruptured pipe more than 8,000 feet underground, and it shows no signs of stopping,”

The following map shows the spread of methane over the Los Angeles area and researchers from Eco Watch report that elevated levels of natural gas have been detected as far as 10 miles from the leak:

LA-leak

And residents in the Porter Ranch are are suffering significant health problems…

On February 18, SoCalGas and the national media declared the“worst methane gas leak in U.S. history” permanently sealed,but just over a month later, hundreds of Porter Ranch residents who evacuated — and are now returning home — are suffering the same symptoms they suffered when the gas leak was active. They are experiencing nausea, dizziness, fatigue, headaches, nosebleeds, and many, including children, are also experiencing a new ailment: irritated skin rashes across their bodies.

Neither SoCalGas, which owns the Aliso Canyon facility, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, nor any other government agency has provided a concrete explanation for these continued symptoms. In fact, one of Los Angeles County’s top medical officials recently told local physicians to refrain from performing tests to determine what is causing the symptoms. 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

This Is What’s Happening to People Who Live near the Worst Gas Leak in US History

March 26, 2016

This Is What’s Happening to People Who Live near the Worst Gas Leak in US History

(ANTIMEDIA) Porter Ranch, CA — On February 18, SoCalGas and the national media declared the “worst methane gas leak in U.S. history” permanently sealed, but just over a month later, hundreds of Porter Ranch residents who evacuated — and are now returning home — are suffering the same symptoms they suffered when the gas leak was active. They are experiencing nausea, dizziness, fatigue, headaches, nosebleeds, and many, including children, are also experiencing a new ailment: irritated skin rashes across their bodies.

Neither SoCalGas, which owns the Aliso Canyon facility, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, nor any other government agency has provided a concrete explanation for these continued symptoms. In fact, one of Los Angeles County’s top medical officials recently told local physicians to refrain from performing tests to determine what is causing the symptoms. Late last week, preliminary lab tests from an independent UCLA study found evidence of benzene, a carcinogen, in at least two Porter Ranch homes. Benzene was reported to have been released in the 100 metric tons of methane that spewed into the Los Angeles basin for four months — a fact SoCalGas previously attempted to downplay and withhold.

Reemergence of Symptoms

On March 4, Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitchell Englander issued a press release reporting the Department of Public Health had received at least 150 complaints of reemerging symptoms, including nosebleeds, dizziness headaches, nausea, and skin rashes. Now, the Health Department says it has received 300 complaints since residents began moving home after SoCalGas told them it was safe to do so.

Many residents have said the rashes, which can be extensive, are new and did not occur during the initial, months-long gas leak from October to February. During that time, thousands of families were evacuated and the Department of Public Health received 700 health complaints.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Radiation Alert: L.A. Gas Well Spewing LETHAL LEVELS Of Breathable Nuclear Material: “Fukushima Class Disaster”

February 5, 2016

Radiation Alert: L.A. Gas Well Spewing LETHAL LEVELS Of Breathable Nuclear Material: “Fukushima Class Disaster”

In a breaking development that has been completely ignored by mainstream news sources, the leaking natural gas well near Los Angeles, California is now reportedly spewing lethal levels of radioactive material, according to a report from Steve Quayleand a group with expertise in nuclear material.

A leaking natural gas well outside Los Angeles is spewing so much naturally-occurring Uranium and Radon, that “breathable” radiation levels have hit “lethal levels” according to a Nuclear Expert group.

Hal Turner of Super Station 95 reports that the well is releasing 1.91 Curies (Ci) of radiation per hour.

This rogue well is spewing huge amounts of natural gas and about 1.91 curies an hour of natural radioactive material in the natural gas… 1.91 curies an hour is about 45.9 curies per day… It’s a really, really big leak.

A curie is a unit of measure in the U.S. to describe very large radioactive releases.

The French utilize a unit of measure called a Becquerel to measure radiation levels. A single Becquerel measures the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second.

To put things into perspective, Turner explains that a single Curie is equivalent to about 37 Billion Becquerels (Bq) of radiation:

A Becquerel is a much more human sized unit of measure… it’s one radioactive burst of energy per second… One Curie is 37 billion Becquerels per second.

That’s 1.7 trillion Becquerels per day coming out of that natural gas well.

This is a real Fukushima class disaster and it’s happening right here in the USA.

…

In 80 days of fumes at a pace of 1,115 tons per day coming out of that ground… could carry with it 301.2 terra-Becquerels of natural radioactivity… This converts to a resperable… a breathable emanation of 12 million Sieverts (Sv)… 2.4 million times the lethal dose by inhalation.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

California’s Massive Gas Leak: Hazards of Industry Long Known


January 11, 2016

California’s Massive Gas Leak: Hazards of Industry Long Known


Expert research, public record details many risks of underground gas storage.

AlisoCanyon_610px.jpg

Overhead photo of the leaking Aliso Canyon well pad near the Porter Ranch community in Los Angeles County, Dec. 17, 2015. Credit: Earthworks, Creative Commons licensed.

A massive methane leak from an aging underground gas storage facility in a community north of Los Angeles illustrates the grave environmental and safety hazards that come with operating gas storage fields near cities due to the frequency of well leaks, experts have shown.

Since Oct. 23, thousands of citizens have been displaced or sickened with nosebleeds and headaches by hydrocarbon pollution from a leaky injection well site at the Aliso Canyon storage facility, one of the largest underground storage sites in North America.

Industry stores methane underground in depleted oil and gas fields, aquifers or salt caverns for future use because it is more economic than storing the gas in tanks on the surface.

UNDERGROUND GAS STORAGE: A LEGACY OF LEAKS

The gas storage industry, now 90 years old, has experienced lots of gas migration problems and its facilities “can create a serious risk of explosions and risks especially when located in urban settings,” say the petroleum experts who authored Gas Migration.

Leaks occur through faults, wells and cracks in cap rock. Operators admit that during the 50-year life of any operation, methane will leak and erupt into aquifers, soils and the atmosphere.

Decades ago, scientists compared storing methane underground (the gas is lighter than air) to building a room for a bunch of feral cats all trying to escape.

The following incidents illustrate that the Aliso Canyon disaster represents just one of the hazards of injecting and storing gases underground.

Moss Bluff, Texas, 2004: An explosion at this facility north of Houston lit up the sky with 200-foot flames and damaged a wellhead. As a result, the facility released nearly $30-million worth of methane into the atmosphere. More than 100 local residents were evacuated.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

‘About Time’: Jerry Brown Declares State of Emergency Over Porter Ranch

January 7, 2016

‘About Time’: Jerry Brown Declares State of Emergency Over Porter Ranch

Organizers say the leak has ‘been a wake-up call for this community…. We’re all on the front lines of climate change.’

Porter Ranch residents protest California Governor Jerry Brown’s months-long refusal to call a state of emergency over the gas leak that has been pumping out methane since October. Brown announced a state of emergency on Wednesday. (Photo: LA Daily News)

Following months of pressure from activists and residents, California Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday issued a state of emergency over the Porter Ranch gas leak that has been pouring tens of thousands of kilograms of methane into the air surrounding the community since October.

The order means “all necessary and viable actions” will be taken to stop the leak and ensure that the Southern California Gas Company (SoCal Gas), which owns the leaking natural gas injection well, is held accountable for the damage.

“It’s about time,” Alexandra Nagy, Southern California organizer at Food and Water Watch, told Common Dreams. “It’s incredible. Now residents can actually get the assistance that they need.”

Brown issued the state of emergency after making a quiet visit to the area earlier this week to tour the facility and meet with the Porter Ranch neighborhood council. Wednesday’s order also directs action to protect public health, according to a press release issued from the governor’s office.

“It is really going to…amplify the urgency of this issue and really expose how bad the problem is,” Nagy said.

The leak, which has been ongoing since October, gained limited media attention after environmental and public health advocate Erin Brockovich declared it “a catastrophe the scale of which has not been seen since the 2010 BP oil spill.” Residents living in proximity to the well, which is situated in Aliso Canyon, roughly 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles, reported having symptoms of methane exposure, including headaches, nausea, and in some cases, bleeding eyes and gums.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“Unstoppable” California Gas Leak Now Being Called Worst Catastrophe Since BP Spill

December 24, 2015

“Unstoppable” California Gas Leak Now Being Called Worst Catastrophe Since BP Spill

Since initially reporting on California’s Alison Canyon gas leak, more details have emerged on the scale (and potential for no solution) of the problem as the infamous Erin Brockovich writes, “the enormity of the Aliso Canyon gas leak cannot be overstated. Gas is escaping through a ruptured pipe more than 8,000 feet underground, and it shows no signs of stopping,” as according to the California Air Resources Board, methane – a greenhouse gas 72 times more impactful in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide – has been escaping from the Aliso Canyon site with force equivalent “to a volcanic eruption” for about two months now.

New infrared footage exposes the massive leak..

 

Infographic of leak (and potential solution) 

 

As TheAntiMedia.org’s Claire Bernish details, methane gas continues spewing, unchecked, into the air over southern California from a fractured well to an underground storage site — at such an alarming rate that low-flying planes have necessarily been diverted by the FAA, lest internal combustion engines meet highly volatile gas and, well, blow the entire area to hell.  

This is, indeed, the biggest environmental catastrophe since the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010; and for now, there is no way to stop it.

This methane disaster is worse than can be sufficiently described in words, because while it’s estimated well over 100,000 pounds of methane spew into the atmosphere every hour, the leak can’t be halted, at least until spring. Even then, that stoppage depends entirely on the efficacy of a proposed fix — which remains a dubiously open question.

According to the California Air Resources Board, methane — a greenhouse gas 72 times more impactful in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide — has been escaping from the Aliso Canyon site with force equivalent “to a volcanic eruption” for about two months now. So far, the total leaked gas measures somewhere around 100,000 tons — adding “approximately one-quarter to the regular statewide methane emissions” during that same time frame.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Suncor facility in Rimouski dealing with gasoline leak – Montreal – CBC News

January 2, 2015

Suncor facility in Rimouski dealing with gasoline leak – Montreal – CBC News.

A Suncor facility in Rimouski, Que. has been leaking gasoline since early yesterday evening.

Firefighters and Quebec’s environmental emergency team are on the scene, trying to fix the leak and clean up the spilled gas.

Emergency responders were alerted to the leak at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Neither the quantity of the spilled gas nor the cause of the leak is known at this time.

Crews are working to collect the oil and put it into tanker trucks.

Authorities told Radio-Canada that although the leak has not yet been sealed, the situation is under control.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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