Porter Ranch residents continue to report the strong odor of natural gas in their community due to a leak at the Southern California Gas Company Aliso Canyon storage facility just uphill from their homes. While the Gas Company reports that the leak “poses no threat to public safety” and it is “confined to a localized remote area”, residents are amazed that the leak has gone on for more than a week in this bucolic community. The fact that the Gas Company revealed that they have more than a hundred people working on resolving this issue which could take more than a week to conclude has come as a shock to residents who have not previously given this facility, one of the largest in Southern California, much thought.
The Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council (PRNC) is very concerned about the impacts of the gas leak on the community, the potential for future leaks, and existing county government oversight to monitor operations and protect the community from potential disasters resulting from such operations so close to residents. As a result, they have changed their regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, November 4, 6pm to focus on the Gas Company gas leak. They have postponed the planned presentation by City Attorney Mike Feuer in order to bring key government representatives to both inform the community and answer questions regarding the leak, the risks, the repairs, and prevention of future leaks.
Agencies that will be represented include:
• The Southern California Gas Company
• County Supervisor Mike Antonovich’s office
• County of Los Angeles Fire Department –Health Hazardous Materials Division
• County of Los Angeles Public Health
• South Coast Air Quality Management District-AQMD
• Los Angeles Fire Department
• California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources (unconfirmed)
• Senator Fran Pavely’s office (unconfirmed)
• Assembly Member Schott Wilk’s office (unconfirmed)
The meeting will be held at the Porter Ranch Community School, 12450 Mason Ave, on the corner of Mason and Sesnon. All concerned residents are invited to attend and participate in the solution to this pressing community health and safety concern.
Agenda
Update October 31. We received the below letter late last night:
Aliso Canyon FAQ Sheet
Update, late October 28: Jarrod DeGonia of County Supervisor Michael Antonovich's office reports that "AQMD is on site with the Gas Company monitoring the leak. They are reviewing the situation daily. County Fire has been monitoring the situation already. We are in constant communication with the Gas Company and will continue represent the community." He will be at our PRNC meeting on Wednesday, November 4, 6pm at the Porter Ranch Community School for a further debrief on this.
On Monday, October 26 hearing a clamor of concerns about a gas leak in Porter Ranch, we reached out to Sempra Energy to find out what steps they were taking to resolve the problem and when we could expect it to be concluded.
Their initial response was that the gas is venting into the atmosphere and can be smelled because of the additive that is designed for that purpose; there is no danger. Conveniently, they had planned for and held a meeting on Monday afternoon about the Aliso Canyon Turbine Replacement Project at Shepherd of the Hills. Several of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council Board Members were in attendance seeking answers as were numerous concerned stakeholders. We now (Wednesday, October 28) have a more complete response, which is very similar to the initial response.
