Los Angeles – While the national mainstream and “alternative” media often portrays California as the nation’s “green” and “progressive” leader, the victims of the largest methane blowout in U.S. history have a much different perspective.
On the 10-year-anniversary of the Aliso Canyon gas storage underground facility disaster, survivors and advocates continue to demand that Governor Gavin Newsom shuts down this dangerous facility that they say still poses a “massive risk to the community.”
The Aliso Canyon gas blowout was a huge methane leak in the Santa Susana Mountains near the community of Porter Ranch in northern Los Angeles. On this day in 2015, SoCal Gas, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, discovered gas escaping from a well within the Aliso Canyon underground storage facility.
However, it wasn't until February 11 of the following year that the company reported that it had the leak under control. Then on February 18, California officials announced that the leak was permanently plugged. The 112-day blowout released 109,000 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere.
“It's shocking that this facility is still in existence, given the health, seismic, and fire risks it presents for the 1.8 million residents of the San Fernando Valley,” said Patty Glueck, a community member, in a statement. “The gas storage site exists only as a cash cow for SoCalGas executives to make millions in salary and bonuses and is not needed for energy reliability.”
Kyoko Hibino, Co-Founder of Save Porter Ranch, concurred with Glueck about the risks the operation of the facility poses to nearby communities.
“Ten years after the Aliso Canyon gas blowout, our community is still paying the price for government inaction, medical unpreparedness, and corporate denial,” said Hibino. “The Los Angeles County Health Department’s public presence gave false reassurance while offering no guidance or medical communication — leaving women, children, and sensitive populations to fend for themselves in the aftermath of toxic exposure, as government officials allowed polluters to continue harming our community instead of protecting it.”
Helen Attai, a community member, noted that the past decade “has been profoundly difficult” for her and her community, with government officials at many levels failing to listen to her and other advocates.
“Those of us who became involved as community activists did so not by choice or because we had nothing else going on in our lives, but because we believed our voices were needed. But, no one was willing to listen. These years have taught me painful lessons about trust and governance,” she observed.
“I’ve witnessed all government agencies, leaders at every level — from Governor Gavin Newsom to our local city councilman John Lee — prioritize politics over people’s wellbeing. I’m being honest about where I am: angry, disappointed, sick and exhausted. My family and I developed new health issues during this time. A decade focused on advocating for our community’s health, something I deeply care about, is time I can never recover. It is 10 years that I will never get back,” Attai stated.
Andrea Vega, Southern California Senior Organizer, said, “It has been ten years since these community members' lives changed forever because of this devastating gas blowout. In that time we’ve had two Governors, many CPUC commissioners, and countless broken promises.”
“While Governor Newsom has certainly also been backsliding during this session, when it comes to shutting down the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility for the health and safety of the surrounding community, he has always failed to be the leader that we need. Under Governor Newsom’s watch Aliso Canyon has repeatedly been expanded, with no pathway to closure in sight,” Vega said.
On Sunday, October 26, survivors of the Aliso Canyon gas blowout and advocates will also be hosting a town hall to mark the 10 year anniversary, according to Vega.
At the town hall, residents and survivors will hear from researchers working on a recent UCLA health study assessing the short- and long-term health impacts of the gas blowout. They published a study finding that women who were pregnant at the time of the blowout had babies with low birth weights at rates 45 to 100% higher than normal.
Residents will also be calling on neighbors to use a new tool to track and monitor any future leaks.
“This 10-year anniversary brings overwhelming emotions and painful memories and a bad case of PTSD. The experience has taken a real toll. I cannot believe that this monstrous facility is still open so close to so many homes, schools, shopping centers, and medical offices,” Helen Attai concluded.
SoCalGas and Sempra Energy paid more than $2 billion in settlements and fines to community members over the past decade because of the adverse health and other impacts of the disaster, according to the Press Telegram: www.presstelegram.com/…
Those payments include: $1.8 billion in personal injury lawsuits, $119.5 million to settle city, county and state government claims, $4.3 million to settle the county’s criminal case and $105 million to the California Public Utilities Commission, including $34.1 million in greenhouse gas mitigation funds.
“In 2021, the bulk of the payouts — a massive $1.8 billion — settled the consolidated lawsuits of more than 35,000 people whose lives, health and homes were impacted by the 100,000 tons of methane and other toxins uncontrollably released into the air near Porter Ranch and its surrounding communities beginning on Oct. 23, 2015,” the Press Telegram reported.
“The full impact of the disaster, which is believed to have also released benzene and heavy metals, is still being studied to this day. SoCalGas and Sempra, as part of the various settlements, have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and have maintained there is no long-term health risk,” the publication stated.
Abstract for the UCLA study:
On 23 October 2015, operators at the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage field in Northern Los Angeles reported an uncontrolled natural gas leak. The blowout persisted for 112 days, releasing ~109,000 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere. Elevated air toxics and fine particle pollutant levels were also measured in nearby communities. We used California’s birth records and a quasiexperimental design to assess whether pregnant women living in affected communities during the disaster experienced more adverse birth outcomes than expected. Overall, the prevalence of low birthweight and term low birthweight were 45 to 100% higher than expected among women living in the affected communities whose late pregnancy overlapped with the blowout. The strongest effects were observed among women living directly south and southwest of the facility. Furthermore, we observed a dose-response effect, where the odds of low birthweight were highest among women living closest to the well and attenuated out.
