Aliso Canyon's Historic Gas Leak Puts Sempra Energy In "Uncharted Regulatory Territory"

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Sempra Energy may be entering uncharted regulatory and technical territory with the massive and uncontained Aliso Canyon gas leak, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, as the company and its regulators simply cannot find historical leaks of this magnitude. Sempra’s Southern California Gas Co. is drilling a relief well but has warned that capping the well could take two months which has prompted massive evacuations in the area, the instigation of a no-fly zone, and now Governor Brown's declaration of a state of emergency to protect residents.

Governor Brown's statement (excerpted here):

Given the prolonged and continuing duration of the Aliso Canyon gas leak and at the request of residents and local officials, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued a proclamation that declares the situation an emergency and details the administration's ongoing efforts to help stop the leak. The order also directs further action to protect public health and safety, ensure accountability and strengthen oversight of gas storage facilities.

 

Earlier this week, Governor Brown met with Porter Ranch residents and toured the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility, including the site of the leak and one of the relief wells.

 

Today's proclamation builds on months of regulatory and oversight actions from seven state agencies mobilized to protect public health, oversee Southern California Gas Company's actions to stop the leak, track methane emissions, ensure worker safety, safeguard energy reliability and address any other problems stemming from the leak.

Sempra’s Southern California Gas Co. is drilling a relief well that it expects will stop the gas from escaping from the well located in the Aliso Canyon storage facility, the fourth-largest underground field in the U.S. The utility has said capping the well could take two months.

Through Dec. 31, Sempra has spent about $50 million on addressing the leak and environmental and community impacts, including the temporary relocation of residents, according to a regulatory filing Thursday. Sempra also said it has made seven unsuccessful attempts to plug the leak by pumping fluids down the well shaft and that it may face fines and penalties as a result of the incident.

However, as TheAntiMedia.org's Dave Smith reports, scientists and engineers are finding it difficult to contain the largest natural gas leak ever recorded – since late October, an estimated 73,000 tons of methane, a highly flammable gas 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, has escaped from an energy facility in Aliso Canyon, California; and there is no immediate end in sight.

According to Anne Silva, spokesperson for the Southern California Gas Company or SoCalGas the company that owns the facility, since the base of the well sits 8,000 feet underground, efforts to stop the flow of gas by pumping fluids directly down the well have not yet been successful. Therefore, the company is now constructing a relief well that will connect to the leaking well.

 

In a letter to the community affected by the leak, which came after Governor Brown directed DOGGR and CPUC to launch investigations into the cause of the leak and whether any violations have taken place, CEO Dennis Arriola said:

“We are making good progress on drilling a relief well to stop the leak and are on schedule to complete it by late-February to late-March. The relief well will intercept the leaking well at more than 8,000 feet below ground and the operation is continuing around the clock, 24 hours, 7 days a week. As of December 19, we have drilled about 3,300 feet and are in our second of five phases of the drilling process. Once the relief well intercepts the leaking well, we will pump fluids and cement into the bottom of the well to stop the flow of gas and permanently seal it.”

The Environmental Defense Fund recently released footage of the leak that shows climate-damaging methane gases escaping from a massive natural gas leak at a storage facility in California’s Aliso Canyon, with the San Fernando Valley pictured in the background. The giant methane plumes were made visible by a specialized infrared camera operated by an Earthworks ITC-certified thermographer.

What you can’t see is easy to ignore. That’s why communities that suffer from pollution from oil and gas development are often dismissed by industry and regulators. Making invisible pollution visible shows the world what people in Porter Ranch have been living with every day for months,”conservation organization Earthworks spokesman Alan Septoff said.

California officials have confirmed the rupture is venting gas at a rate of up to 110,000 pounds per hour – more than 150 million pounds of methane has been poured into the atmosphere so far; officials fear pollutants released in the accident could have long-term consequences far beyond the region. The counter below estimates in real time just how much pollution is being emitted from the environmental disaster.

The 20-year warming impact is said to exceed that of all the state’s oil refineries combined, or of burning 300 million gallons of gasoline. The EDF states:

Methane – the main component of natural gas – is a powerful short-term climate forcer, with over 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it is released. Methane is estimated to be leaking out of the Aliso Canyon site at a rate of about 62 million standard cubic feet, per day. That’s the same short-term greenhouse gas impact as the emissions from 7 million cars.

Tim O’Connor, the California climate director for the Environment Defense Fund, told Mashable the leak is dumping the equivalent of eight or nine coal plants worth of methane into the atmosphere. He told The Washington Post, “It’s one of the biggest leaks we’ve ever seen reported. It is coming out with force, in incredible volumes. And it is absolutely uncontained.”

 

 

The Los Angeles Unified School District has agreed to relocate nearly 1,900 students from schools near the leak, citing disruption from absenteeism and several visits to the health office. SoCalGas has placed 2,258 families in temporary housing, while 111 others staying with family or friends are being compensated. More than 3,000 others are in the process of being relocated.

*  *  *

So far, 25 complaints, many of which seek class action status, compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys’ fees, have been filed, Sempra said. State and local authorities are investigating.

“Our focus remains on quickly and safely stopping the leak and minimizing the impact to our neighbors in Porter Ranch,” Dennis Arriola, president and chief executive officer of Southern California Gas, said in an e-mailed statement.

This week Brown met with Porter Ranch residents and toured the Aliso Canyon facility on the north rim of the San Fernando Valley. His office said the emergency regulations would include daily inspections of gas storage well heads and regular testing of safety equipment.

Brown’s emergency order "will bring the additional resources and focus we need — to get people back into their homes, restore confidence in the safety of this community, and begin rebuilding quality of life in the neighborhoods affected by the gas leak,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement. Garcetti said he asked Brown to make the declaration.

Brown also directed the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates Sempra’s Southern California Gas, to ensure that the company covers costs related to the leak while protecting customers. The utility is paying to temporarily relocate residents.

4.5
Your rating: None Average: 4.5 (6 votes)
 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Thu, 01/07/2016 - 21:55 | 7015102 conscious being
conscious being's picture

Outside of the Sierras, thunderstorms are rare in most of CA.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:10 | 7013684 MASTER OF UNIVERSE
MASTER OF UNIVERSE's picture

It's going to blow up very soon.

 

mark my words!

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:18 | 7013732 Mark Mywords
Mark Mywords's picture

You rang?

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 19:28 | 7014398 MASTER OF UNIVERSE
MASTER OF UNIVERSE's picture

Yeah, I'll have a corned-beef on rye, small fries, and a Dr. Pepper.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:10 | 7013686 Chupacabra-322
Chupacabra-322's picture

Pull my finger.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:16 | 7013724 silverer
silverer's picture

Looks like they pulled the whole peninsula.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:10 | 7013687 alexcojones
alexcojones's picture

I blame ISIS.

I'm sure they'll have a HiDef video out soon. 

Hollywood is just down the road, after all.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:42 | 7013861 BeansMcGreens
BeansMcGreens's picture

Hollywood is just down the road, after all.

 

Hey, thats where some of the biggest sphnicters hang out. Throw some in that hole.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:54 | 7013945 Dickweed Wang
Dickweed Wang's picture

Hollywood is just down the road, after all.

 

Maybe that's why the whole area stinks like shit . . . .

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:12 | 7013697 Zymurguy
Zymurguy's picture

Sorry I don't get the tactic being employed here... pouring a liquid on top of a gas?  This is supposed to stop the flow?  Um, wouldn't it just bubble up regardless?  I mean unless that "brine" is more of a coagulant of sorts good luck with that.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:14 | 7013715 A Lunatic
A Lunatic's picture

That is the same science that prevents sewage gasses from  bubbling up into your home......

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:53 | 7013932 Dickweed Wang
Dickweed Wang's picture

Sorry I don't get the tactic being employed here... pouring a liquid on top of a gas?

 

The theory behind what they are doing is based on the fact that a column of brine 8,000' tall has more pressure on it at the bottom of the column than the gas underneath.  That's the theory anyway . . . but in the real world theories don't always translate into workable solutions.  See the attempts to stop the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico a few years ago for a good example of this (many reports indicate the thing is still leaking to this day, albiet not nearly as bad as it was originally).  Also, if the use of brine would work as planned the company wouldn't be spending millions on drilling a "relief well" - that is also not guaranteed to work.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 19:18 | 7014339 Urban Roman
Urban Roman's picture

The graphic is wrong.They can't run anything down the wild well against the flow of gas.

They are drilling a relief well -- a second hole in the ground. They will use directional drilling tech and find the steel casing deep underground, and cut into it with the second drill. The drilling mud in the second well will be managed so that it matches the pressure at the bottom of the wild well. Gas will stop flowing as soon as there is a good slug of mud in the bottom of the wellbore. Then they'll pump in concrete to permanently stop it.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:22 | 7013758 franzpick
franzpick's picture

Invisible Fukushima and WIPP radiation remains hiding in plain sight, but infrared of Aliso reveals the consequences of fascist corruption.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:25 | 7013772 gallistic
gallistic's picture

Let the free market work!

We don't need no stinkin' regulation, or empirical truth from the eggheads in the scientific peanut gallery.

Truth is fungible, and besides, the benevolent and sublimely elusive invisible hand of the prophet Smith will make everything right.

 

 

 

 


h/t to MDB

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 18:37 | 7014155 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

funny/

 The libtards evaporate, when the funny money ends.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:49 | 7013912 4thHorseman
4thHorseman's picture

I'm wondering what precautions are being taken to keep one of those sandnigger jihadists from launching an arrow tipped with a flare into the damn thing....

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:54 | 7013943 Ms No
Ms No's picture

If they don't get that fixed before too long that will be a Boots and Coots issue.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:59 | 7013947 itstippy
itstippy's picture

I've had to deal with those infuriating "California Gas Caps".  Unbelievably shitty design, and they're on just about every gas can for sale today.  They're supposed to protect the environment by preventing gas vapors from escaping into the atmosphere.  Ha!  They leak gas all over the car, lawnmower, snowblower, whatever you're trying to gas up.  Also your hands and shoes.  I pity the engineers charged with trying to get this big one to stop leaking.

Cut the fucking cap off and use a rubber stopper on a string.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:55 | 7013948 Solio
Solio's picture

Thankfully, there have been months of regulatory and oversight actions from seven state agencies so everything will be under control in short odor.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 17:56 | 7013954 DIgnified
DIgnified's picture

" Governor Brown's declaration of a state of emergency to protect residents. "

 

I feel safer already. 

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 19:22 | 7014361 matinee55
matinee55's picture

check you wallet, then you will know for sure

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 18:01 | 7013988 Moccasin
Moccasin's picture

Flare it and call it a tourist attraction.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 18:10 | 7014031 Quinvarius
Quinvarius's picture

I really want them to just light a match there.  I think that would solve this problem once and for all.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 18:14 | 7014047 ThrowAwayYourTV
ThrowAwayYourTV's picture

Now all we need is for Yellowstone to blow.

Yellowstone about to blow? Scientists warning over SUPER-VOLCANO that could kill MILLIONS

Experts at the European Science Foundation said volcanoes – especially super-volcanoes like the one at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, which has a caldera measuring 34 by 45 miles (55 by 72 km) - pose more threat to Earth and the survival of humans than asteroids, earthquakes, nuclear war and global warming.

There are few real contingency plans in place to deal with the ticking time bomb, which they conclude is likely to go off within the next 80 years.

 

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 19:03 | 7014274 Ms No
Ms No's picture

Some geologists say that they should drain that lake and it would massively decrease the explosion and ash propulsion.  Not sure if that is true. 

If you look at the Lava Creek ash deposit and combine that with the approaching weapons grade radiation fire in that Missouri dump... we wouldn't have very much farm land for a few years even if we didn't go into volcanic winter.

http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0908OverlappingCalderas.jpg

http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0908OverlappingCalderas.jpg 

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 21:39 | 7015029 Kprime
Kprime's picture

I'll be long gone

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 18:13 | 7014051 insanelysane
insanelysane's picture

A temporary fix is simple.  Buy blimp, deflate blimp, cut hole in blimp, drag blimp over leak, anchor blimp, connect pipe from top of blimp to storage and distribution system.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 18:19 | 7014062 ThrowAwayYourTV
ThrowAwayYourTV's picture

They tried that. It was called the "Hindenburg."

https://youtu.be/CgWHbpMVQ1U

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 18:24 | 7014101 SmittyinLA
SmittyinLA's picture

I live near this, that part of the valley has the best air quality in LA, in spite of the gas leak, I pity the poor fools that live in Burbank, East LA, Long Beach, Bell.

This is all trial lawyer hype. the FAA closing airspace above was truly a "jump the shark" moment.

They show IR videos, not actual air tests, living next to a port is much much worse.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 19:25 | 7014111 Salsipuedes
Salsipuedes's picture

With Jerry Brown´s sister Kathleen (formerly of GOLDMAN SACHS oh don´t you know) on the Board of Directors of Sempra Energy, I´m sure they´ll get to the bottom of it* and heads will roll.**

* Your wallet. 

** Your head

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 18:51 | 7014224 yellowsub
yellowsub's picture

If "terrorists" were real, wouldn't they do something with this?  

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 19:21 | 7014353 matinee55
matinee55's picture

Mercy, will those Bush's never stop!

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 19:24 | 7014367 surf@jm
surf@jm's picture

Will become another shakedown for California, and the FED DOJ, after the billion dollar fines are collected, and distributed to Sacramento, Chicago and Detroit.......

And Californians will get the tax.....I mean gas bill....

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 19:30 | 7014415 Catullus
Catullus's picture

So what exactly are the health impacts of methane? Besides the potential for global warming?

Looks like nothing. It's simply a fire risk.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 19:35 | 7014442 Salsipuedes
Salsipuedes's picture

It´s the benzene that´s a bitch.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 20:20 | 7014624 Catullus
Catullus's picture

What benzene? This is refined gas.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 22:11 | 7015160 Salsipuedes
Salsipuedes's picture

Dream on. It´s mentioned by everyone who has a clue about this disaster. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTvQvMAJ6hE

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 19:49 | 7014506 I Write Code
I Write Code's picture

Maybe Sempra can contract with the Norks for a small H-bomb to shoot down the well.

Or else go the other way and take a page from Fukushima, pour liquid nitrogen down the well until hell freezes over.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 23:54 | 7015510 malek
malek's picture

This will be "solved" the same way as the Macondo blowout:
It stops after the reservoir is emptied.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!