It happened over one year ago, and yet we are still feeling the consequences. It was on October 23, 2015, that SoCalGas discovered the ruptured gas well known as SS-25 leaking from its 3,600 Aliso Canyon Storage Facility north of Porter Ranch, California, among the nation’s largest underground gas storage fields. By the time Southern California Gas Co. managed to plug the ruptured well four months later at its Aliso Canyon gas storage field, nearly 100,000 metric tons of methane had escaped over Los Angeles — making it the largest atmospheric release in U.S. history.
The Aliso Canyon gas leak also raised questions about the nation’s energy infrastructure, with some calling for the shutdown of the storage field. It was a wake-up call for many who had failed to recognize the risks of Aliso Canyon — an aging facility operating under grossly outdated and inadequate standards with the potential to wreak havoc on public health and the environment. About 80% of the facility’s wells were built before the 1970s, and Southern California Gas knew they were corroding and failing at an increasing rate. But there were no rules mandating frequent inspections or upgrades. What’s more, government officials didn’t seem sufficiently concerned that the state’s energy supply had become so heavily dependent on Aliso Canyon.
“Part of the legacy of the leak is that here, and across the nation, gas storage facilities will be (more) as safe as a result,” said Paula Cracium, president of a Porter Ranch Community Advisory Committee on the discharge, who works for Shepherd Church, a megachurch in Porter Ranch. “We were blissfully ignorant of what was going on up there — how many leaks were happening, how it operated.
The gas company is now awaiting safety test results from seven wells at Aliso Canyon before state agencies can allow gas to be pumped back into the field. To date, 28 storage wells have passed all tests, according to state regulators, with the remaining wells either plugged, taken out of service or sealed off from the storage reservoir until further testing. New laws demand the field be certified as safe before it can reopen. A public hearing next year will discuss the feasibility of closure. SoCalGas issued a statement last week saying it had installed more than 40 miles of steel pipe into old wells, in accord with a state safety review. However, many residents have called upon officials to shut Aliso Canyon down. There have been four major leaks at the storage field since the big one, environmental activists say, and an average two minor leaks each day.
“Until facilities like this are not allowed near our communities,” said Los Angeles Councilman Mitch Englander, who represents the area, “disasters like Aliso Canyon will always be a possibility.”
“This community has been fighting for a year to hold the gas company accountable for the disaster that they caused — the gas blowout,” said Alex Nagy, a community organizer for Food and Water Watch, an environmental group. “People are still getting sick in their homes. We still need a long-term health study. We still need people’s homes cleaned of residue. We still need the decommissioning of this facility.”
Sources: LA Daily News, LA Times