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

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 issuesAccording 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 theworst 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…

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


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…

Doctors Sound Alarm as State of Emergency Declared over CA Gas Leak: Leave Now

“I will tell you, this goes well beyond Porter Ranch. We’ve had complaints from as far as Chatsworth, Northridge, and Granada Hills,” emphasized Los Angeles City Councilman Mitchell Englander during a Porter Ranch town hall meeting on December 28. “Apparently this plume of toxic chemicals and whatever it might be, doesn’t know zip codes […] This is the equivalent of the BP oil spill on land, in a populated community.

Aliso Canyon sits less than two and a half miles from Porter Ranch and less than 30 miles from the city of Los Angeles — the second most populous city in the United States — whose outlying total statistical area includes nearly 18 million residents, as of 2013.

Brown has been widely criticized for lack of decisive action on the leak, which is erupting from its underground storage area with all the force “of a volcano.” Under Wednesday’s declaration“all state agencies will utilize state personnel, equipment, and facilities to ensure a continuous and thorough state response to this incident.”

Porter Ranch residents have been evacuating the area for some time, though SoCalGas’ rather maladroit handling of the relocation procedure has been a nightmare — and the cause for a mounting number of lawsuits, including one from the L.A. city attorney’s office.

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

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

‘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…

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