Huge volcano of methane spews out of California. Why should we care about this invisible gas?

[KamaAina]

http://www.thomhartmann.com/node/90374

A lot is written about the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, but there is a considerably more potent gas that has climate scientists worried - methane - and it is pouring out of underground storage in the States, sickening local residents. Find out more about it...

A natural gas storage well about 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles has leaked about 800,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, sickening local people and increasing California's emissions by about a quarter. While not visibly polluting like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, it will take just as long - 3 months - to drill down to the 8,700-foot-deep leak and block it, and the owners are unable to estimate how much gas will have been released by then. This is bad news for the locals who have to be evacuated from their homes.

California is not the only area in the United States which is leaking methane. There have been leaks in New Mexico's San Juan Basin for years...

Natural gas is mostly methane, a naturally occurring greenhouse gas which makes up only a tiny fraction of the atmosphere, but contributes about 20% to global warming. It is given off by wetlands, forest fires, plants and animals from bacteria to termites to cows. The warmer it gets, the more methane is given off by plants such as rice paddies, and it is also released from entrapment in permafrost and ice. Humans add to the natural methane with the fossil fuel industry, landfills, waste water treatment facilities, and our increased burning of forests and raising of animals such as cows. While all these add gradually to the level of atmospheric methane, as recorded by Mauna Loa, there is an outside chance that if the planet warms enough that there will be a sudden irreversible release of methane hydrates or clathrates in the seas, leading to mass extinction. There are already signs that a warmer ocean may be releasing frozen methane.

[Ghost Dog]

1. The owners of this leaking underground storage facility are presumably being heavily fined

for every metric tonne and every day this contamination continues? If not why not?

[KamaAina]

2. You're not from around here, are you?

"Tonne" is a dead giveaway. Regulations over here are lax by the standards of the civilised world, and will get laxer still if the repukes win the White House.

[Ghost Dog]

3. Heh heh. I knew it.

I suggest that a failure to include contamination costs in the price mechanism through such measures as levies or fines indicates an unhealthy, malfunctioning economy. If lawmakers won't do it, would a collective civil suit for damages do it?

[KamaAina]

4. Sounds like a plan!

We are, after all, "the litigious society".

[Ghost Dog]

5. Cool.

[Brother Buzz]

6. They (Southern California Gas Co.) are being sued

L.A. city attorney sues SoCal Gas over gas leak affecting Porter Ranch

December 7, 2015

Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer announced Monday he was suing Southern California Gas Co. over how it has handled a natural gas leak that has sent sickening fumes into the Porter Ranch area, spurring hundreds of families to leave their homes.

The lawsuit alleges that the company failed to immediately report the leaking well at its Aliso Canyon facility and was not properly prepared to stop it, resulting in a “public nuisance” from foul odors that caused nausea, headaches and nosebleeds and made large areas of Porter Ranch “unlivable.” The leak has lasted for more than a month.

The suit also argues that the amount of methane released by the leak will worsen climate change and its toll on Los Angeles and its residents. The California Air Resources Board recently reported that the leak is releasing roughly 50,000 kilograms of methane per hour — an amount that Feuer likened to 200,000 cars running for a year.

“No community should have to endure what the residents of Porter Ranch have suffered from the Gas Co.'s continued failure to stop that leak,” Feuer told reporters at a news conference also attended by Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Councilman Mitch Englander, who represents the Porter Ranch area.

The leak was first detected Oct. 23 and is expected to take months more to repair, according to the company. In response to a request for comment on the lawsuit, SoCalGas spokesman Javier Mendoza said the company had taken immediate steps to address the leak and inform regulatory agencies.

<more>

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-85254587/

[Ghost Dog]

7. Great. Suit asserts "methane released by the leak will worsen climate change",

which affects everyone on the planet. So could it become a Class Action?

[Brother Buzz]

8. That, and pony up a huge wad of money to even up the score on that cap and trade thingy

[Ghost Dog]

9. Exactly.

And would set a precedent, inspire others...

It would be a useful ball to set rolling.