California air quality agency sues over gas leak which has displaced thousands
Corrected: California’s Air Quality Management District has sued a gas utility in the state over a Los Angeles-area gas leak that’s been active since October, the Los Angeles Daily News reported Tuesday.
The leak comes from a Southern California Gas storage facility located in the affluent Porter Ranch neighborhood in the northwestern San Fernando Valley. The utility acknowledged the leak October 23.
Since then, more than 2,000 people who live nearby have complained about methane fumes causing headaches, dizziness, vomiting, nosebleeds and harm to pets. The leak has forced 9,000 people from 3,000 households to move out of the area and stay in rental homes or hotels at the utility’s expense. Another 2,000 households are on a waiting list. Two elementary schools have been moved to share campuses with schools outside the leak area.
Since December, the Los Angeles Times reports, the utility has been trying to contain the leak by drilling a relief well to siphon away the gas to where it can be sealed. That effort was close to reaching the original well on Monday, the newspaper says.
Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in early January. On Saturday, an independent panel finished two weeks of hearings on the issue by ordering the gas well to be permanently shut down.
The Air Quality Management District’s general counsel, Kurt Wiese, told the Daily News that the leak is “the most significant public nuisance I’ve seen in my career.” A spokesperson for Southern California Gas declined to comment.
If the district wins its lawsuit, the utility could be required to pay record-breaking civil penalties. At up to $250,000 per day per violation of state law, the Daily News said, the penalty for just one violation, through Jan. 26, could be $24 million.
The lawsuit joins more than 25 others filed about the leak. That includes one filed in December by Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, who alleged that Southern California Gas was not adequately prepared for a leak.
Updated at 6:52 p.m. to state that the daily penalty under state law is up to $250,000. We apologize for the error.
