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Porter Ranch Residents See Infrared Video of 'Hydrocarbon Plume'
Source: By Patrick Healy, NBC Los Angeles
Published 54 minutes ago
Hundreds of Porter Ranch's gas leak-weary residents gathered to consider legal options
Hundreds of Porter Ranch residents gathered in Granada Hills Tuesday evening for a meeting organized by a team of lawyers suing the Southern California Gas Company over an ongoing leak from a storage facility.
The legal team filed the lawsuit last week as a class action, which means that residents of the area will have the opportunity to join the case as plaintiffs, or opt out of the class. The Los Angeles City Attorney announced Monday that the city is filing a separate suit seeking court oversight of the Gas Company's actions to stop the leak and prevent others.
City Files Suit Over Porter Ranch Gas Leak
Residents have complained of a noxious smell and ailments including nause and headaches. The main component of natural gas, methane, is odorless, so as a leak indicator, a strong-smelling chemical — mercaptan — is added.
Natural gas is also invisible in normal light, but does appear in infrared imagery, according to Paul Rosenfeld, an environmental chemist retained by the legal team.
During the meeting, the audience was shown what was described as infrared video of the sky above Porter Ranch and told that the plume, varying in color from pink to blue, represent varying concentrations of hydrocarbons.
Natural Gas Leak from Well Described as "Catastrophe"
"The video looks like something out of a science fiction horror movie," said Brian Panish, a member of the legal team. Others include R. Rex Parris, the firm of Morgan & Morgan, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who recently moved to California.
Kennedy asserted the leak could have been prevented had the entire well been encased in concrete, as has been required since legislation in the 1970s. The leaking well dates back to a postwar oil field that was pumped out and later converted to natural gas storage.
Read more: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/Hundreds-of--Porter-Ranchs-Gas-Leak-Weary-Residents-Gather-to-Consider-Legal-Options-361174221.html
22 replies
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http://www.cracked.com/article_19564_6-based-true-story-movies-with-unpleasant-epilogues.html
Instead of taking PG&E to court in full view of the public, Brockovich's firm convinced the residents of Hinkley to settle through private arbitration, where everything would be secret and the lawyers were basically accountable to nobody. After settling on the $333 million, the money wasn't given to the townspeople to pay for their medical bills until six months later.
...
When Hinkley's residents contacted Erin about their concerns ("concerns" is a term that here means "money for our cancer bills"
, they found that their one-time advocate was now unreachable. Once they finally received the money, they noticed that it was far less than they expected. That's because the law firm, wanting more than the agreed-upon 40 percent of the settlement ($133 million), took an extra $10 million for "expenses."
Then, in an act that would make Satan himself issue a public apology, Brockovich's firm screwed the kids with cancer by taking a third of their settlements, even though it's an extraordinarily unusual and universally frowned upon practice to take more than 25 percent. Hinkley's residents also noticed that there was no rationale behind how much money each resident received, but the rules of private arbitration prevented them from finding out the formula used to determine the settlements.
Instead of taking PG&E to court in full view of the public, Brockovich's firm convinced the residents of Hinkley to settle through private arbitration, where everything would be secret and the lawyers were basically accountable to nobody. After settling on the $333 million, the money wasn't given to the townspeople to pay for their medical bills until six months later.
...
When Hinkley's residents contacted Erin about their concerns ("concerns" is a term that here means "money for our cancer bills"
, they found that their one-time advocate was now unreachable. Once they finally received the money, they noticed that it was far less than they expected. That's because the law firm, wanting more than the agreed-upon 40 percent of the settlement ($133 million), took an extra $10 million for "expenses."
Then, in an act that would make Satan himself issue a public apology, Brockovich's firm screwed the kids with cancer by taking a third of their settlements, even though it's an extraordinarily unusual and universally frowned upon practice to take more than 25 percent. Hinkley's residents also noticed that there was no rationale behind how much money each resident received, but the rules of private arbitration prevented them from finding out the formula used to determine the settlements.
http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20151207/la-city-attorney-sues-southern-california-gas-co-over-porter-ranch-well-leak
L.A. City Attorney sues Southern California Gas Co. over Porter Ranch well leak
By Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 12/07/15, 9:49 AM PST | Updated: 1 day ago
A civil lawsuit was filed Monday against the Southern California Gas Co. by Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, with city officials alleging the Aliso Canyon gas leak has threatened residents’ health and hurt the environment.
Filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of the people of California, the lawsuit alleges a public nuisance and violation of the California Unfair Competition Law from the leak.
Feuer said he would seek civil penalties for the leak, which was made public by gas officials in October. The leak at Aliso Canyon is occurring outside Los Angeles city boundaries but affecting residents of nearby Porter Ranch.
The lawsuit comes days after Porter Ranch residents filed their own lawsuit against the gas company over the fissure, which isn’t expected to be fixed for several months.
Feuer’s complaint alleges gas officials created conditions that “allowed the well to fail, exacerbating the effects of that failure by allowing the acute odor and health problems faced by the community to persist for more than one month, to say nothing about the indefinite time it will persist into the future.”
The leak is spewing 100,000 pounds of methane every hour, according to the lawsuit, which will result in “increased temperatures and extreme heat days for the city well into the future” because of methane’s “potent warming effect.”
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L.A. City Attorney sues Southern California Gas Co. over Porter Ranch well leak
By Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 12/07/15, 9:49 AM PST | Updated: 1 day ago
A civil lawsuit was filed Monday against the Southern California Gas Co. by Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, with city officials alleging the Aliso Canyon gas leak has threatened residents’ health and hurt the environment.
Filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of the people of California, the lawsuit alleges a public nuisance and violation of the California Unfair Competition Law from the leak.
Feuer said he would seek civil penalties for the leak, which was made public by gas officials in October. The leak at Aliso Canyon is occurring outside Los Angeles city boundaries but affecting residents of nearby Porter Ranch.
“No community should have to endure what the residents of Porter Ranch have suffered from the gas company’s continued failure to stop that leak,” Feuer said.
The lawsuit comes days after Porter Ranch residents filed their own lawsuit against the gas company over the fissure, which isn’t expected to be fixed for several months.
Feuer’s complaint alleges gas officials created conditions that “allowed the well to fail, exacerbating the effects of that failure by allowing the acute odor and health problems faced by the community to persist for more than one month, to say nothing about the indefinite time it will persist into the future.”
The leak is spewing 100,000 pounds of methane every hour, according to the lawsuit, which will result in “increased temperatures and extreme heat days for the city well into the future” because of methane’s “potent warming effect.”
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http://www.dailynews.com/environment-and-nature/20151202/health-officials-porter-ranch-gas-leak-may-cause-long-term-health-effects
Health officials: Porter Ranch gas leak may cause long-term health effects
By Sarah Favot, Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 12/02/15, 11:58 AM PST | Updated: 6 days ago
County public health officials said prolonged exposure to trace chemicals, some of which are known carcinogens, in natural gas leaking above Porter Ranch can cause long-term health effects.
However, they cautioned Wednesday that the levels examined so far in Porter Ranch are not believed to be associated with long-term health problems.
Previously, county health officials said the gas leak did not pose any long-term health risks, but because the leak is now entering its sixth week and gas company officials say it may take four months to plug the leak, officials said more monitoring is needed.
“As the duration of exposure increases, these trace levels can produce significant long-term health effects,” county Department of Public Health Interim Director Cynthia Harding wrote in a memo sent Tuesday to the Board of Supervisors. “As this incident has moved from a short-term exposure event resolved within days, to now a long-term event potentially lasting months, supplemental monitoring of potentially harmful trace chemicals is warranted.”
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Health officials: Porter Ranch gas leak may cause long-term health effects
By Sarah Favot, Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 12/02/15, 11:58 AM PST | Updated: 6 days ago
County public health officials said prolonged exposure to trace chemicals, some of which are known carcinogens, in natural gas leaking above Porter Ranch can cause long-term health effects.
However, they cautioned Wednesday that the levels examined so far in Porter Ranch are not believed to be associated with long-term health problems.
Previously, county health officials said the gas leak did not pose any long-term health risks, but because the leak is now entering its sixth week and gas company officials say it may take four months to plug the leak, officials said more monitoring is needed.
“As the duration of exposure increases, these trace levels can produce significant long-term health effects,” county Department of Public Health Interim Director Cynthia Harding wrote in a memo sent Tuesday to the Board of Supervisors. “As this incident has moved from a short-term exposure event resolved within days, to now a long-term event potentially lasting months, supplemental monitoring of potentially harmful trace chemicals is warranted.”
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http://www.dailynews.com/opinion/20151201/gov-browns-climate-legacy-starts-at-porter-ranch-not-paris-guest-commentary
Gov. Brown’s climate legacy starts at Porter Ranch, not Paris: Guest commentary
By Alexandra Nagy and Matt Pakucko
Posted: 12/01/15, 9:41 AM PST | Updated: 1 week ago
Porter Ranch residents tired of the month-long gas leak in Porter Ranch rally at the corner of Tampa Avenue and Rinaldi Street on Nov. 23. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Los Angeles DailyNews)
The massive gas leak that started more than a month ago near Porter Ranch continues unabated as Gov. Jerry Brown prepares to take the international stage at the United Nations climate conference in Paris. Yet Gov. Brown’s weak response to the ongoing crisis at the Aliso Canyon Storage Field proves he is a lot more talk than walk when it comes to fighting climate change at home.
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Once an oil field, Aliso Canyon near Porter Ranch was repurposed for gas storage in the 1970s when most of the oil was gone. Now, it is one of the largest such facilities in the country with the capacity to store 86 billion cubic feet of gas. The field stores fracked natural gas that is piped in from across the Western United States to Los Angeles, where it is then pumped into wells to store the gas underground.
The leak that started on Oct. 23 was caused by well integrity failure and is only the most recent of many such leaks caused by aging infrastructure. SoCalGas admits in its own documents that it’s seen a “negative well integrity trend” develop since 2008 and has observed wells reaching a breaking point. Most of SoCalGas’ wells are more than 50 years old, and many are over 80. As these wells crumble due to old age and high-intensity use, residents are put at a greater risk of accidents, well blowouts and other major incidents. Alarmingly, despite these dangers, SoCalGas plans to increase storage capacity at this field putting further stress on these old wells.
But instead of showing strong leadership, Gov. Brown has left it to the state’s Department of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) to address the leak. DOGGR — under fire already for enabling oil drillers to threaten California’s depleted freshwater aquifers during a drought crisis — unsurprisingly gave SoCalGas a pass by only requiring the influential corporation to tell the state its timeline for stopping the leak. This is unacceptable: Instead of leaving it to SoCalGas to look after the atmosphere and the health of Porter Ranch families, Gov. Brown should use his executive authority to shut down the Aliso Canyon Storage Facility. That’s what a real climate leader would do.
Tragically, a leak like the one that continues at SoCalGas’s facility near Porter Ranch could happen anytime and anyplace where fracked natural gas and oil are stored or where these fossil fuels are extracted. Shutting down the Aliso Canyon Storage Facility should be an easy decision for Gov. Brown, and one he should make immediately. But, in the big picture, that action is one small step: to be a real climate leader, and to truly protect Californians, Gov. Brown must ban fracking and other extreme forms of oil and gas extraction, and quickly transition the Golden State off fossil fuels to 100 percent, real, clean, renewable energy.
Alexandra Nagy is a Southern California organizer with Food & Water Watch. Matt Pakucko is president and co-founder of Save Porter Ranch. He and his family were relocated from their home just before Thanksgiving after reporting symptoms in the wake of the leak at the Aliso Canyon Storage Field.
Gov. Brown’s climate legacy starts at Porter Ranch, not Paris: Guest commentary
By Alexandra Nagy and Matt Pakucko
Posted: 12/01/15, 9:41 AM PST | Updated: 1 week ago
Porter Ranch residents tired of the month-long gas leak in Porter Ranch rally at the corner of Tampa Avenue and Rinaldi Street on Nov. 23. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Los Angeles DailyNews)
The massive gas leak that started more than a month ago near Porter Ranch continues unabated as Gov. Jerry Brown prepares to take the international stage at the United Nations climate conference in Paris. Yet Gov. Brown’s weak response to the ongoing crisis at the Aliso Canyon Storage Field proves he is a lot more talk than walk when it comes to fighting climate change at home.
<>
Once an oil field, Aliso Canyon near Porter Ranch was repurposed for gas storage in the 1970s when most of the oil was gone. Now, it is one of the largest such facilities in the country with the capacity to store 86 billion cubic feet of gas. The field stores fracked natural gas that is piped in from across the Western United States to Los Angeles, where it is then pumped into wells to store the gas underground.
The leak that started on Oct. 23 was caused by well integrity failure and is only the most recent of many such leaks caused by aging infrastructure. SoCalGas admits in its own documents that it’s seen a “negative well integrity trend” develop since 2008 and has observed wells reaching a breaking point. Most of SoCalGas’ wells are more than 50 years old, and many are over 80. As these wells crumble due to old age and high-intensity use, residents are put at a greater risk of accidents, well blowouts and other major incidents. Alarmingly, despite these dangers, SoCalGas plans to increase storage capacity at this field putting further stress on these old wells.
But instead of showing strong leadership, Gov. Brown has left it to the state’s Department of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) to address the leak. DOGGR — under fire already for enabling oil drillers to threaten California’s depleted freshwater aquifers during a drought crisis — unsurprisingly gave SoCalGas a pass by only requiring the influential corporation to tell the state its timeline for stopping the leak. This is unacceptable: Instead of leaving it to SoCalGas to look after the atmosphere and the health of Porter Ranch families, Gov. Brown should use his executive authority to shut down the Aliso Canyon Storage Facility. That’s what a real climate leader would do.
Tragically, a leak like the one that continues at SoCalGas’s facility near Porter Ranch could happen anytime and anyplace where fracked natural gas and oil are stored or where these fossil fuels are extracted. Shutting down the Aliso Canyon Storage Facility should be an easy decision for Gov. Brown, and one he should make immediately. But, in the big picture, that action is one small step: to be a real climate leader, and to truly protect Californians, Gov. Brown must ban fracking and other extreme forms of oil and gas extraction, and quickly transition the Golden State off fossil fuels to 100 percent, real, clean, renewable energy.
Alexandra Nagy is a Southern California organizer with Food & Water Watch. Matt Pakucko is president and co-founder of Save Porter Ranch. He and his family were relocated from their home just before Thanksgiving after reporting symptoms in the wake of the leak at the Aliso Canyon Storage Field.
