Leak

Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) and the regional air pollution regulators have agreed to pursue a plan to capture and burn at least part of the escaping emissions at SoCalGas’ two-month-old natural gas storage well leak on the northern suburban fringe of Los Angeles (see related story), following an all-day public hearing last Saturday in the Porter Ranch residential area impacted by the leak.

Residents living in the area adjacent to the Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) underground natural gas storage field, where a two-month-old leak has forced many to relocate, have asked state oil and gas regulators to shut down the facility.

Attorneys have cited the absence of a safety valve in lawsuits on behalf of residents that have been dislocated by a two-month-old natural gas storage well leak in the northwest end of the Los Angeles San Fernando Valley (see Daily GPI,Nov. 19).

Separate federal and state probes are now underway in California as the Aliso Canyon underground natural gas storage well leak continues to draw the spotlight. The leaking well in the foothills northwest of downtown Los Angeles has officials focusing on unanswered questions regarding the volumes of methane escaping into the atmosphere and the extent to which over-pressurization led to the well failure.

Lawsuits, investigations and public invectives were mounting in California Wednesday against Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) over a two-month-old natural gas underground storage well leak and the resulting impact on a suburban Los Angeles community.

Local radio talk show hosts and elected officials on Thursday toured Southern California Gas Co.’s (SoCalGas) Aliso Canyon underground storage field where a gas well leak is now two-months old. At the same time, efforts to plug the well and keep the 86 Bcf storage facility operating continued almost unnoticed.

Under a second order from the state’s oil and natural gas supervisor, Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) began this week preparing to drill a second relief well at the 86 Bcf-capacity Aliso Canyon underground storage field 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

California’s oil/natural gas supervisor late Thursday issued a second emergency order aimed at getting faster gas capture and additional data on the seven-week-old underground storage well leak from Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) Aliso Canyon facility on the northern edge of a Los Angeles suburb.

The Los Angeles city attorney on Monday filed a lawsuit against Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) for its handling of a seven-week-old underground natural gas storage well leak that has no end in sight (see Daily GPI,Dec. 3).