Aliso Canyon is the largest natural gas storage facility in the western U.S. and the site of the October, 2015 blowout that spewed nearly 100,000 tons of methane into the skies above the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles for nearly four months.
The bill was co-authored by Senator Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), and Assemblyman Scott Wilk presented SB 380 on the floor of the Assembly on April 28 and it passed both chambers with overwhelming bipartisan support.
The new law requires that all 114 wells at Aliso Canyon undergo additional tests to detect any possible leaks.
Wells can go back into use only after passing four additional structural integrity tests, and wells that have not been fully tested and certified must be temporarily plugged and isolated from the facility.
New injections could only resume if well integrity is proven “to prevent damage to life, health, property, and natural resources and other requirements.”
Senator Pavley said in a prepared statement that the law “puts public safety first.”
“Now that the news cameras have left Aliso Canyon and moved on, the governor and the Legislature have shown that their memories are vivid and that a hard lesson has been learned. We must do all we can to prevent another disaster.”
The bill also sets a deadline of July 1, 2017 for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to open a proceeding to evaluate the feasibility of scaling back or shutting down the facility.
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