The Southern California Gas Co. should not be allowed to renew gas injections at Aliso Canyon until at least two requirements are met.
First, the root-cause analysis study — to find out what caused the massive blowout — needs to be completed. Second, the health study that SoCalGas agreed to finance needs to be suitably funded and completed to determine what is causing so many residents in Porter Ranch to continue getting sick from the polluted air and soil in and around Aliso Canyon.
In last years’ public hearings, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) agreed along with the Los Angeles County Department of Health’s Angello Bellomo and other California health experts that a comprehensive health study for the Porter Ranch gas leak victims would cost anywhere between $13 million and $40 million.
However, the SCAQMD found it agreeable to settle with SoCalGas for a measly $1 million study of some sort. This settlement is insulting, degrading and incomprehensible to the victims of the largest methane blowout in United States history.
As residents of Porter Ranch for the last 23 years, my wife and I have raised our son and daughter in Porter Ranch in the same home. Now, our son, his wife and our beautiful granddaughter live in their own Porter Ranch home.
Porter Ranch is our home, and we are here to stay and protect our hometown from SoCalGas; the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR); California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), and SCAQMD.
We have lost trust in all these organizations.
During SoCalGas’ Aliso Canyon methane leak, our family relocated to mitigate the health issues we encountered. Now that we are back home, we can describe life in Porter Ranch as before and after the leak.
When we moved into our new home in 1994, I knew that SoCalGas was running the Aliso Canyon storage facility. What I did not know until recently was that in 1979, SoCalGas was allowed to remove a safety valve out of well SS-25 at Aliso Canyon, without replacing it with a new one.
Then, on Sept. 1, 1992, DOGGR reviewed and stamped a noise and temperature survey conducted on SS-25. The survey revealed that as early as Nov. 7, 1991, there was a leak at SS-25, which continued to be operated by SoCalGas with the blessing of DOGGR and CPUC.
If a safety valve were in place; and if DOGGR and CPUC had done their job to protect the safety, welfare and health of California residents, the massive 100,000-metric-ton methane blowout would have been avoided; 8,000 families, including school children, would not have been relocated from their homes and schools.
According to SoCalGas officials’ sworn testimony in August 2016 at SCAQMD hearings, there are two leaks per day, on average, at the Aliso Canyon storage facility. That is present tense. The real-time air monitoring data at the fence line between the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility and the community of Porter Ranch, equipped by Argos Scientific, continues to register higher than normal methane levels daily.
SoCalGas Aliso Canyon’s facility is not necessary to maintain the energy demands of the region. In fact, Angelenos have lived without Aliso Canyon’s supply since January 2016. There is enough infrastructure and pipeline capacity in Southern California to keep the gas flowing, according to energy experts, including Bill Powers, a San Diego engineer and consumer advocate.
Energy agencies have adopted a set of mitigation measures that have worked successfully for more than a year to prevent relying on Aliso Canyon. This storage facility is decaying rapidly, and its old infrastructure is no longer safe to the 180,000 North Valley residents living below.
Aliso Canyon sits on top of the Santa Susana fault line. According to SoCalGas; “Movement on the Santa Susana fault zone could cause extensive damage to their facility via ground rupture, liquefaction in susceptible areas, and strong seismic ground shaking.”
DOGGR and CPUC have an opportunity to rewrite their legacies by decommissioning Aliso Canyon. Gov. Jerry Brown has a shot at showcasing his environmental credentials.
Shut this facility down forever. Let’s clean up the soil and turn Aliso Canyon into a greenbelt and wildlife corridor connecting all the canyons and trails in Porter Ranch.
Daniel Guimera has lived in Porter Ranch since 1994.
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