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California has finalized regulations for underground natural gas storage that take effect Oct. 1 aimed at public health and safety nearly three years after the four-month-long methane leak at Aliso Canyon, the state’s largest storage facility.

The root cause of the largest methane leak in U.S. history that occurred in 2015 at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility in Southern California likely will not be known until late this year, according to the energy consulting firm conducting an independent investigation.

A three-part study into the root cause of the well failure that resulted in the largest methane leak ever at the Aliso Canyon underground storage facility continues to move slowly on separate tracks and with little public attention.

The County of Los Angeles on Monday asked the Los Angeles Superior Court for an injunction to prevent the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage field from reopening until state regulators complete an earthquake and risk analysis.

The root cause analysis for the natural gas storage well leak at the Aliso Canyon facility in Southern California, which ended 18 months ago, is apparently months from completion, according to state officials.

Area residents and their supporters seeking to close California’s largest natural gas underground storage field, Aliso Canyon, rallied at a state lawmaker’s district office Wednesday, calling for the permanent closure of the 86 Bcf capacity facility north of Los Angeles in the suburban San Fernando Valley.

California regulators on Wednesday released a revised set of informal draft rules affecting underground injection control (UIC) wells, an effort that has grown more complex after last year’s methane leak at Southern California Gas Co.’s Aliso Canyon underground storage facility.

California regulators on Tuesday proposed to “significantly limit” volumes of natural gas that could be stored in the now shuttered Aliso Canyon field, the state’s largest underground storage facility on 3,600 acres with 86 Bcf capacity.

Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) on Tuesday formally asked California regulators for approval to reopen the Aliso Canyon underground natural gas storage field along the northern fringes of Los Angeles that has been closed since a leak occurred a year ago (see Daily GPI,Feb. 18).