County To Fight Aliso Canyon Reopening In Court

LOS ANGELES, CA — Attorneys for Los Angeles County plan to go to court Monday in hopes of blocking a re-start of natural-gas injections at the Aliso Canyon storage facility in Porter Ranch, despite state regulators' determination that the facility is safe to resume limited operations.

In a message to constituents, County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said it is irresponsible to re-start Aliso Canyon until a study is completed into the cause of the four-month leak at the facility that sent tons of methane into the air and forced thousands of residents from their homes in late 2015 and early 2016.

"The facility must remain closed until the root cause analysis and energy reliability study are completed and the health concerns of our impacted residents are fully addressed to the satisfaction of county health officials," Barger said.

According to the California Public Utilities Commission and the state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, the investigation into the cause of the leak is continuing. Regardless of that study, the agencies on Wednesday cleared the way for the Southern California Gas Co. to resume injections of natural gas at the facility.

"In order to protect public safety and the environment, this facility will be held to the most rigorous monitoring, inspection and safety requirements in the nation and will store only the minimum gas necessary to supply the Los Angeles area," said Ken Harris, DOGGR oil and gas supervisor.

"The extensive testing, retrofits and new safety measures ensure the wells are in sound operating condition today."

CPUC Executive Director Timothy Sullivan said the facility will be restricted to about 28 percent of its operating capacity, "just enough to avoid energy disruptions in the Los Angeles area."

Concerns have been raised in the months since the leak about the possibility of electrical shortages due to the lack of natural gas from the Porter Ranch-area facility to operate power plants.

Critics have blasted such claims, saying the issue was being raised as a scare tactic to pressure regulators into allowing Aliso Canyon to resume operating. SoCalGas officials vehemently denied the accusations.

"Aliso Canyon is an important part of Southern California's energy system, supporting the reliability of natural gas and electricity services for millions of people," according to the Gas Co.

"SoCalGas has met -- and in many cases, exceeded -- the rigorous requirements of the state's comprehensive safety review."

The Aliso Canyon storage facility has been largely out of use since the four-month leak spewed about 109,000 metric tons of methane into the air and led to the temporary relocation of about 7,000 Porter Ranch-area residents. The leak, the largest of its kind in U.S. history, began in October 2015 and was capped in February 2016.

City News Service