Porter Ranch residents who have been fighting for the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility to be closed after the blowout in 2015 are dismayed that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is considering a proposal that could delay its closure.
Andrea Vega, a Southern California organizer for the nonprofit Food & Water Watch, explained the CPUC initially came out with a staff proposal in 2022 that included five different plans on what to do with the facility, some of which included a shutdown – the earliest of which would’ve been by 2027.
However, on Wednesday, Nov. 13, CPUC introduced a different proposal that would push a shutdown timeline by at least three years. It calls for biennial assessments of appropriate gas levels and to set a usage-demand level for the facility, which is owned by Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas).
If that level were to be met, it would trigger a proceeding to consider shutting down the facility. However, the proposed target level of 4,121 million metric cubic feet per day may not be reached until 2030. The CPUC will consider this proposal at its Dec. 19 meeting.
When the commission brought forth this new proposal out of nowhere, local residents and activists were left stunned and confused.
“When we first saw the proposal, it was absolutely not what we were expecting,” said Vega. “Unfortunately, what we’ve gotten instead is what will basically amount to a bureaucratic mess. It’s very much just going to continuously delay a shutdown of the facility.”
In a statement to the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol, SoCalGas said, “We continue to review the decision but share the Commission’s view that Aliso Canyon is a necessary part of California’s energy infrastructure today.”
Aliso Canyon Continues to Raise Health Concerns
The site has been controversial for the surrounding residents due to the high safety risk it poses. From Oct. 15, 2015, to Feb. 11, 2016, more than 100,000 metric tons of methane were leaked into the atmosphere, making it the largest gas leak in United States history.
High levels of methane can reduce the amount of oxygen breathed from the air, which can result in health problems including slurred speech, mood changes, memory loss, vision problems, nausea, vomiting, headache and facial flushing. In severe cases, there can be changes in breathing and heart rate, balance problems, numbness and unconsciousness.
For years, the nearby communities have demanded that the Aliso Canyon site be closed. Porter Ranch residents and activists held a rally last month on the ninth anniversary of the blowout, calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to keep his promise to shut down the facility, which he has so far failed to do. All the commissioners on the CPUC were appointed by Newsom.
Last year, the commission unanimously voted to increase the capacity of the facility, which residents protested. The capacity was increased from 41.2 billion cubic feet to 68.6 billion.
“The Public Utilities Commission has had nine years to create and present and approve a plan that will actually close down Aliso Canyon by an appropriate timeline, and in those nine years, I would say it’s been even worse,” Vega said.
“So now I’m wondering, is it that … [Newsom] didn’t mean it when he made those promises to community members, or was he just so ineffective in actually putting a plan in place? At this point, I don’t know which is worse.”
Residents Suffer Lasting Health Impacts
Matt Pakucko, a member of the group Save Porter Ranch, said the CPUC’s proposal is caving to SoCalGas and that the biennial assessment is their way of not having to deal with the problem for another two years.
Pakucko expressed the danger of living near the facility, as he had several nosebleeds during the initial blowout. They started again in the past year, which he said was around the same time that SoCalGas was doing maintenance on their wells – between late 2022 and early 2023 – using hydrofluoric acid, which is highly corrosive.
He also suggests that the spike in heating bills that occurred in the past couple of years was due to SoCalGas buying gas on the open market instead of using what they had at Aliso Canyon, which was filled to capacity.
“That facility sat there, I don’t know what for,” Pakucko said. “Why is that place in our backyard if they’re not even going to use it according to what it’s built for?”
Patty Gleuck – co-founder of Aliso Moms Alliance, a group created in 2019 to inform local residents of the harm the facility has done to the area – also had her share of health issues. She was struck with coughing fits, for which she had to get an inhaler.
She brought up an independent health study by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), into the long-term impacts of the blowout. The five-year study began in December 2022 and ends in October 2027. While the study is ongoing, UCLA researchers held a community meeting with Porter Ranch residents to discuss some of their early findings, which are already showing some cause for alarm.
“Women who were pregnant at the time of the blowout [and lived within six miles of the well] had babies who were weighing 5.5 pounds or less, and we’re talking about women who went full term,” Gleuck said. “They [UCLA researchers] said … they call it a statistically significant finding.”
Gleuck added that the CPUC is not considering the health effects of keeping Aliso Canyon open, nor any environmental factors. The gas storage facility sits directly across the Santa Susana Fault, raising large concerns if an earthquake hits, and in 2019, the Saddle Ridge fire came close to reaching the facility.
“How many people are going to be killed right away [if disaster strikes]?” Gleuck asked. “The health risks are very worrisome, and yet the CPUC … are all about protecting SoCalGas and their pocketbook.”
But there has been a silver lining to this ordeal. There is an upcoming four-point program to reduce gas usage in the area using funds from the $71 million settlement last year with the CPUC and SoCalGas. The settlement was included in Assembly Bill (AB) 157 and signed by Newsom in September.
One of the points is installing heat pumps in homes and apartments in the San Fernando Valley – including Canoga Park, West Hills and North Hills – with priority given to Porter Ranch. The second point is to plant grass and trees in schools in affected areas, the third is putting efficient air conditioning in the homes of senior citizens and the rest of the money will be used on education to get people to sign up for the program.
The local community advised their state senator, Henry Stern, on how the money should be used, especially the heat pumps. While this will help reduce gas usage in Porter Ranch, Gleuck reiterated that it wasn’t just them that was affected by the blowout.
“The emissions go all throughout the valley … affecting communities like Pacoima and Van Nuys,” she said. “[Aliso Canyon] is a very hazardous site, and we don’t think it’s really needed.”
The San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol reached out to the CPUC for comment, but they did not respond by press time.
To read the latest on UCLA’s Aliso Canyon Disaster Health Research Study, go to https://alisostudy.ucla.edu/.