Los Angeles Times Op-Ed March 1, 2017
Don't reopen Aliso Canyon By Kyoko Hibino
I’m no longer surprised when my nose suddenly starts to bleed. As a resident of Porter Ranch, I’ve become accustomed to unexpected nosebleeds, nausea and headaches— near daily reminders of the area’s toxic environment.
Porter Ranch sits below Aliso Canyon, the source of the largest gas leak and methane release in United States history. In October 2015, one of the facility’s 115 aging gas injection wells “blew out,” spewing methane (a potent greenhouse gas), benzene (a carcinogen) and many other toxic emissions.
I had a nose bleed, in fact, on the morning of the first of two public hearings on the proposed reopening of Aliso Canyon. On Feb. 1, I joined my fellow residents, health advocates, elected officials and others in opposing Southern California Gas Company’s plan to re-start their operations at this dangerous facility.
For roughly four months after the blow out, gasses continued to leak uncontrollably from the facility, releasing around 100,000 metric tons of methane and toxins into the atmosphere and doubling the methane emissions rate of the entire Los Angeles basin.
Although the full scale of the public health effects remains unknown, state officials from the Department of Conservation and the Public Utilities Commission gave SoCalGas a tentative green light to reopen the facility.
But the people of Porter Ranch want to keep it closed, for good reason. In over five hours of testimony at the hearings, many residents, geoscientists, engineers, environmental consultants and others spoke of the failure of regulatory agencies to address the urgent health and safety concerns and explained why Aliso Canyon should not reopen:
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SoCalGas and regulators have failed to produce a root cause analysis to determine the cause of the 2015 blowout.
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Until a recent legal settlement required them to do so—more on that below—SoCalGas refused to conduct a comprehensive health study.
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Neither of the regulatory agencies making the decision to re-open the facility have any public health expertise.
Our public health concerns are numerous - in addition to headaches, nausea, and constant nose bleeds, residents have reported widespread anemia, asthma, respiratory and cardio-pulmonary issues, and even cases of rare cancers.
At a press conference following the hearing, Dr. Jeffrey Nordella, a Porter Ranch physician, noted that he’s followed 50 local patients since Nov. 2015. Their health problems, he said, occurred or worsened while they remained in Porter Ranch, and lessened or disappeared when the left the area. In his opinion, “Until a thorough study is performed by an independent agency and a scientific conclusion is drawn, it is nothing short of an act of negligence to reopen Aliso Canyon facility.”
Those at the hearings overwhelmingly agreed. Councilmember Mitch Englander went so far as to argue that homes and the facility cannot coexist. Yet plans for new homes, apartments and a large shopping center in Porter Ranch are going forward.
Beyond health problems, the LA County Fire Department Hazmat division stated that it is essential to create a seismic study and risk management plan. The state’s safety review predicts the Aliso Canyon area is likely to experience a magnitude 7+ earthquake within the next 50 years.
Just days after the recent hearings, a settlement in a lawsuitregarding Porter Ranch was announced. Despite the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s (SCAQMD) finding that SoCalGas needed to spend $5 million to conduct an adequate health study, the settlement between the company and the regional air agency calls for SoCalGas to spend just 1/5 that amount. Just this week, the county health department stated that a comprehensive health study would actually cost $40 million.
Further, while the company faced a fine of $28 million, the settlement requires SoCalGas to pay just $5.65 million for their 112 days of uncontrolled emissions. Previously SCQAMD stated that they would pursue SoCalGas to the “fullest extent of the law,” so we don't understand why the fine was more than $22 million short of the maximum.
The residents of Porter Ranch expect regulators and elected officials to stand for our health and safety, not for protecting irresponsible corporate polluters.
Kyoko Hibino is Director and Co-founder of Save Porter Ranch and a 10-year resident of the community.
Daily News: February 16, 2017
The case for keeping SoCalGas’ Aliso Canyon storage site closed: Guest commentary
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.