Doctors Urge California Residents "Leave Now...While You Can" As Gas Leak Fears Grow

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Submitted by Claire Bernish via TheAntiMedia.org,

California Governor Jerry Brown finally declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, concerning the ongoing, currently unstoppable methane gas leak spewing from Aliso Canyon that has created a nightmare for residents of Porter Ranch.

“I will tell you, this goes well beyond Porter Ranch. We’ve had complaints from as far as Chatsworth, Northridge, and Granada Hills,” emphasized Los Angeles City Councilman Mitchell Englander during a Porter Ranch town hall meeting on December 28. “Apparently this plume of toxic chemicals and whatever it might be, doesn’t know zip codes […] This is the equivalent of the BP oil spill on land, in a populated community.

Aliso Canyon sits less than two and a half miles from Porter Ranch and less than 30 miles from the city of Los Angeles — the second most populous city in the United States — whose outlying total statistical area includes nearly 18 million residents, as of 2013.

Brown has been widely criticized for lack of decisive action on the leak, which is erupting from its underground storage area with all the force “of a volcano.” Under Wednesday’s declaration, “all state agencies will utilize state personnel, equipment, and facilities to ensure a continuous and thorough state response to this incident.”

Porter Ranch residents have been evacuating the area for some time, though SoCalGas’ rather maladroit handling of the relocation procedure has been a nightmare — and the cause for a mounting number of lawsuits, including one from the L.A. city attorney’s office.

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer filed a civil lawsuit last month concerning the massive methane leak’s impact on area residents’ health and damage to the environment — which alleged failure by SoCalGas to prevent the leak and further exacerbation of “the effects of that failure by allowing acute odor and health problems faced by the community to persist for more than a month, to say nothing about the indefinite time it will persist into the future.”

Pediatrician Dr. Richard Kang gave an ominous warning during the Porter Ranch meeting, saying, “Unfortunately, the only real way to get away from the symptoms is… you have to relocate — you have to get away from the environment.” Health complaints include severe headaches, nosebleeds, respiratory issues including increasing cases of asthma, and a number of other issues.

SoCalGas, in the meantime, stated they were “providing air filters for people’s homes,” but though “the odor added to the leaking gas can cause symptoms for some, the gas is not toxic and county health officials have said the leak does not pose a long-term health risk.

But, as the Los Angeles Daily News reported on December 25, Los Angeles County health officials said prolonged exposure to trace chemicals, some of which are known carcinogens, can cause long-term health effects.” Nevertheless, they also “cautioned that levels examined so far here are not believed to be associated with long-term health problems.”

“The gas company says, ‘This is just the smell you’re reacting to, it’s just temporary, it’s not a problem, it’s not serious’ — these people aren’t stupid,” said attorney Rex Paris. “How could somebody possibly say that? We have children whose noses are bleeding every day, we have people who suffer from chronic headaches [and] are nauseous every, single day. How does that not become a serious issue? Why are they saying something nobody here believes? […] They’re trying to convince everybody that it’s all in our heads. It’s a trick.”

In fact, as Erin Brockovich pointed out, “no one really knows the long-term side effects of benzene and radon, the carcinogens that are commonly found in natural gas.”

Additionally, area house pets seem particularly vulnerable — possibly acting the part of unwitting canaries — as veterinarian Dr. David Smith described in the town hall meeting. Noting he has seen dozens of sickened animals, Smith said, “I’ve seen dogs, cats, birds, pocket pets… the primary symptoms I’ve seen are gastrointestinal vomiting […]These are not things you should be inhaling. He added, “We have seen dermatological issues as well, some very unusual bacterial infections in dogs,” including one case in which a dog had such an infection on its face, and “the client developed almost the exact same kind of symptoms soon after that […] their physician thinks it’s related [to exposure from the gas leak] and so I tend to think these correlations are real.”

Though the declaration of emergency states “the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources shall continue its prohibition against Southern California Gas Company injecting any gas into the Aliso Canyon Storage Facility,” it does not make that moratorium dependent on stoppage of the leak; rather, only “until a comprehensive review, utilizing independent experts […] is completed.”

Physician Dr. Brooks Michaels, addressing the town hall meeting, gave the sternest advice to those still in the area surrounding the unprecedented leak:

“If you have a chance to leave, if you’re able to leave… if you have a chance to relocate, do it now. I’m telling you, it’s really critical.”

Understandably, Brown’s state of emergency seems almost too little, too late for many.

You can watch the Porter Ranch town hall meeting here:

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Fri, 01/08/2016 - 10:54 | 7017092 Hitlery_4_Dictator
Hitlery_4_Dictator's picture

LOL, yep pretty much sums it up. At least they have safe spaces to crawl into when the going gets tough. Every time is see a CA plate I die inside a little more. It's like a biblical plague that you can't escape. Saw a cool bumper sticker on a TX car - "Don't California my Texas." We are catching on. 

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:03 | 7016436 mandalou
mandalou's picture

Somebody looking for a fire sale on land.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:12 | 7016472 Xibalba
Xibalba's picture

Soros is almost ready... But not yet.  Fire season is coming 

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:03 | 7016437 Caveman93
Caveman93's picture

Dear God,

One lightning strike please.

Thank you,

Arizona Bay

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 10:15 | 7016832 yrad
yrad's picture

Some say the end is near...

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 10:47 | 7017057 J Jason Djfmam
J Jason Djfmam's picture

Mom's gonna fix it all soon.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 11:48 | 7017420 Hitlery_4_Dictator
Hitlery_4_Dictator's picture

Funny, that moron from Tool lives in CA. I guess he'll get his wish. 

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:03 | 7016438 E.F. Mutton
E.F. Mutton's picture

This will have the AGW crowd pulling their skirts over their heads, screeching and filling their pants.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:03 | 7016439 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

okay how much global warming can we expect from this? /sarcasm

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:16 | 7016491 Rainman
Rainman's picture

Cali's crap and tax scheme is only supposed to reduce greenhouse gasses ...lol

                   http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article19360350.html

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:04 | 7016444 The Merovingian
The Merovingian's picture

Move along, nothing to see here. Please don't light any matches though.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:09 | 7016465 J Jason Djfmam
J Jason Djfmam's picture

Would a flare be O.K.?

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:25 | 7016535 Antifaschistische
Antifaschistische's picture

How about a flare gun?

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:14 | 7016478 Transformer
Transformer's picture

It's just a matter of time.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:05 | 7016446 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

storing natty in an earthquake zone. brilliant!

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 10:32 | 7016935 krispkritter
krispkritter's picture

So are you saying this was done by the Japanese to pay us back for Hiroshima?

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:07 | 7016456 U4 eee aaa
U4 eee aaa's picture

Where is the terrorist with a flaming arrow?

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:11 | 7016473 J Jason Djfmam
J Jason Djfmam's picture

A remote launched Estes rocket would do the trick.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:37 | 7016603 Buster Cherry
Buster Cherry's picture

Cheaper than the drone/sparkler combo I mentioned earlier.

Good thinking. I just hope there will be plenty of cams viewing the ingition when it happens. And you know it will. There's probably a SoCal jihadist walking into the hobby shop right now...

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:41 | 7016625 roddy6667
roddy6667's picture

Wait until a TV station flies an electric camera drone through the gas plume. Film at eleven.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:07 | 7016457 Some folks
Some folks's picture

Really, can't you tell from the video, its all going east.....just relax if your 50 yards west. This is totally organic and healthy.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:21 | 7016512 conscious being
conscious being's picture

Santa Anna winds blow east to west.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:27 | 7016543 SilverDOG
SilverDOG's picture

Some folks,

Yes it is, and showing brilliantly in sunrise and sunsets here on the coast.

We're talking curbside $20 airbrush art colorization.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:31 | 7016568 Lorca's Novena
Lorca's Novena's picture

On the other side of the hill is Santa Clarita, population 200K or so. This area sits in a valley as well surrounded by hills.... This is gonna bite some people in the ass

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:09 | 7016462 ZippyBananaPants
ZippyBananaPants's picture

I thought it was just Oprah just farting

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:09 | 7016463 lakecity55
lakecity55's picture

BOOM!

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:15 | 7016482 Omega_Man
Omega_Man's picture

why hasn't someone lit it on fire to burn it off?

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:19 | 7016501 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

they would rather wait for the right conditions and let it explode on its own

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:19 | 7016502 boattrash
boattrash's picture

They said the matches were just too short...

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:23 | 7016523 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

they need a "pilot light" literally.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:32 | 7016579 Buster Cherry
Buster Cherry's picture

A cheap drone and a kiddie sparkler would do the trick.

Damned surprised it hasn't met a static spark yet.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:37 | 7016602 boattrash
boattrash's picture

All the drones are currently buzzing the M.E and Oregon.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 12:05 | 7017513 css1971
css1971's picture

On you go then.

 

<Gets some popcorn and settles down at a safe distance>

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:16 | 7016487 pff136
pff136's picture

Someone REALLY wants that resource-rich land of California. California was what.....like the 3rd largest economy in the world?? We had wildfires. We have droughts. I have an early American history book that talks about Spaniards first settling California. Waterways were rerouted to bring in water to central California due to the droughts there. In the 1980s/90s, didn't the state govt pass laws to reroute the water back to the sea to save a fish, the smelt? And now, we have methane gas. Knowing how the federal govt seems to be pretty bad about forcing ranchers off resource-rich property around the country and knowing that our dollar is near collapse (and we are in some serious debt to foreign nations), it is not surprising to see all these happening in California. I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I do have a brain & have been watching all these changes closely for the past 8 years. Didn't Nixon pledge our resource-rich public lands to foreigners when he ended the gold standard in 1971? Didn't he make this pledge that if our dollar ever failed, the debt would be backed up by our resources?? Interesting times we're living in.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:36 | 7016596 SilverDOG
SilverDOG's picture

Yeah, but how does this effect staulks? ---s

Add: govt. will allow the disaster to evolve beyond company responsibility/liability. So "We the People" may support our corporations, once again.

Got Meth?

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 11:17 | 7017238 keed
keed's picture

see the chart (specifically California)  where the BLM hasnt taken over.  says it all to me  http://modernsurvivalblog.com/government-gone-wild/map-showing-stunning-...

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:16 | 7016489 .300WinMag
.300WinMag's picture

When can I sign up with Dewy Screwum and Howe / Erin Brockovich for the class action suit?

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 18:59 | 7019488 buzzkillb
buzzkillb's picture

They have been playing these ads nonstop on AM radio.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:18 | 7016493 conscious being
conscious being's picture

What a shame the way California has been destroyed. You have this gas volcano down south. Fukishima is all over the air and sea. The rains won't return til they stop pushing the Jet Stream away. Aluminum, barium and God knows what else is being sprayed over it. Is this what Agenda 21 looks like?

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:18 | 7016496 I am Jobe
I am Jobe's picture

What no WH Press Live Feed to hear more useless Blah Blah Blah Speeches?

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:28 | 7016551 Buster Cherry
Buster Cherry's picture

The gas leak didn't shoot up a school.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 10:42 | 7017019 Buckaroo Banzai
Buckaroo Banzai's picture

We need common-sense gas-control laws. #GasSense

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 10:53 | 7017103 SelfGov
SelfGov's picture

Yeah you joke but it is true.

Something needs to keep human kind from donkey punching Gaia all the time.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:18 | 7016499 BeerMe
BeerMe's picture

their physician thinks it’s related

Or they were kissing thier dog?

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:19 | 7016503 Cautiously Pess...
Cautiously Pessimistic's picture

Well, have they tried the ol'  "PLEASE DO NOT WORRY" campaign that was so wildly succesful in rendering the deadly consequences of Fukushima null and void??

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:22 | 7016519 HippieHaulers
HippieHaulers's picture

Too bad Jerry Brown can't force the leak to be vaccinated or take the leak's gun rights away. He'd be real decisive then.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:25 | 7016534 Lost in translation
Lost in translation's picture

^ THIS

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:23 | 7016524 Omega_Man
Omega_Man's picture

you would think they could build a base around it and suck the gas into some kind of tank

otherwise perhaps it will blow up that part of CA into the ocean

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:26 | 7016536 Amicus Curiae
Amicus Curiae's picture

mercaptan is added TO the nat gas home supply in aus,

the stink of it is intended to enable the gas leaks, if any, to be noticed before it kills

and it DOES stink and make you want to upchuck in trace amounts.

my pity is the pets and wild critters who cant get away from it

people have the option, they dont.

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 09:26 | 7016538 Buster Cherry
Buster Cherry's picture

One lightning strike away from a real doooozeeee

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