The Southern California Gas Co. has agreed to pay $8.5 million — including $1 million for an independent health study — to settle a lawsuit filed by an air quality agency last year over the nation’s worst natural gas leak at the utility’s Aliso Canyon storage facility, officials announced Wednesday.
The settlement with the South Coast Air Quality Management District specifies that $1 million will be designated for a health study sponsored by the air agency; that $5.65 million will pay for emission fees related to the leak; $1.6 million will reimburse SCAQMD for air monitoring costs and $250,000 for its legal fees, the agency said in a statement.
“We are pleased to immediately kick off the process for an independent health study,” said Wayne Nastri, SCAQMD’s executive officer, in a written statement. “This study will build upon existing health information and help inform the community about potential health impacts from the gas leak.”
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SoCalGas, in another statement, confirmed that it will fund the health study related to the natural gas leak that spewed more than 100,000 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere over nearly four months, sickened many residents and prompted the relocation of more than 8,300 households and two schools in the northwest San Fernando Valley. The announcement comes about one year after the leak was capped.
“Consistent with the commitment we made last year, SoCalGas has agreed to fund AQMD’s health study,” SoCalGas said.
“We are pleased to have worked with AQMD to settle this and other matters.”
The health study will include “an enhanced assessment” of residents’ exposure to air pollution from the leak, a community health survey, and an analysis of potential links between reported health effects and exposure to air pollutants, according to air regulators.
AQMD staff will determine how to implement the independent study in coordination with its governing board and partner agencies, the agency said.
Issam Najm, board president of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council and an environmental engineer, said he was still digesting the information Wednesday about the settlement but was concerned about how much could be accomplished with a $1 million health study.
“To do a comprehensive health study, to truly look at the health effects of what has happened and to provide enough useful information to the community and to the health community at large, this would have needed to be more than $10 million at a minimum,” he said.
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