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) [3]:
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 [4], scientists and engineers are finding it difficult to contain the largest natural gas leak ever recorded [5] – since late October, an estimated 73,000 tons of methane [6], 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 [7].
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.
[8]
In a letter to the community affected by the leak, which came after Governor Brown directed DOGGR and CPUC to launch investigations [9] 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 [10]. 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 [11] operated by an Earthworks ITC-certified thermographer.
“What you can’t see is easy to ignore [12]. 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 [13] – 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 [14].
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 [15] 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 [16]. And it is absolutely uncontained.”
NO FLY ZONE now issued around the methane leak zone in Los Angeles, California. https://t.co/dMjCyqYewY [17] via @YouTube [18]
— Lil' Joe (@craigdh) December 20, 2015 [19]
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 [20], while 111 others staying with family or friends are being compensated. More than 3,000 others are in the process of being relocated.
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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.
