Porter Ranch Gas Leak Sealed After 16 Weeks
Health officials say it is now safe for residents -- who had been driven from the area by foul air -- to return home.
Los Angeles Times:
Porter Ranch Gas Leak Permanently Capped, Officials Say
State officials on Thursday announced that the leaking natural gas well in Porter Ranch that spewed plumes of methane and other compounds into the atmosphere has been sealed. "We have good news. The Division of Oil and Gas has confirmed that the leak in the Aliso Canyon storage field is permanently sealed," Jason Marshall, chief deputy director of the state Department of Conservation, said at a press conference in Chatsworth. The news put an end to four months of foul air that sickened many residents and forced thousands of people to relocate to temporary housing far from the leaking well. Gas crews reached the leak last week and injected heavy fluids and then cement to seal it. (Walton, Sahagun and Branson-Potts, 2/18)
The Los Angeles Times:
State Officially Declares Porter Ranch-Area Gas Leak Capped, But Uncertainty Remains
Residents who moved out of their homes were notified by phone, text and email Thursday morning that they had eight days to vacate temporary housing that Southern California Gas Co. has been paying for. By early Thursday, residents of 1,800 households had returned to their homes, said Gillian Wright, vice president of customer service for the utility; 5,774 households remain in temporary housing. Some residents have said they are glad to return home; others worry about the long-term safety of their San Fernando Valley neighborhood if the Aliso Canyon facility remains in operation. (Walton, Branson-Potts and Sahagun, 2/18)
KPCC:
Did The Porter Ranch Gas Leak Cause Long-Term Health Damage?
With the leak now apparently contained, the big question for [residents] is whether the ongoing exposure to an assortment of chemicals has permanently damaged their health. Experts say answering that question won’t be easy. In part, that's because there really hasn’t been any other known natural gas leak of this magnitude and duration that's exposed a large suburban population to an invisible, mostly-methane stew of chemicals - benzene included. (O'Neill, 2/18)
The Associated Press:
California Declares Massive Gas Leak Sealed After 16 Weeks
A blowout at a natural gas well that spewed massive amounts of climate-changing methane for nearly four months and drove thousands of Los Angeles families from their homes has been permanently sealed, state officials declared Thursday. The announcement certifying that the ruptured well had been plugged with cement brought a point of closure in the long-running drama that has disrupted life in the Porter Ranch community and drawn attention to a massive underground storage facility owned by Southern California Gas Co. (2/18)
Los Angeles Daily News:
Well Responsible For Porter Ranch Gas Leak Officially ‘Killed’
The well is dead. Official word the methane-spewing well -- otherwise known as Standard Sesnon 25 -- in Southern California Gas Co.’s Aliso Canyon storage facility above Porter Ranch is sealed came Thursday morning from the California Department of Conservation’s Department of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources on the 118th day of the massive natural gas leak – called the largest in U.S. history. (Wilcox, 2/18)
KTLA:
SoCal Gas Has Permanently Stopped Leak In Gas Well Above Porter Ranch, State Confirms
Five separate tests were completed to determine the integrity of the cement seal, and air quality regulators also confirmed that gas emissions were controlled, said Jason Marshall of the California Department of Conservation. Now that the leak is sealed, the company must inspect and test every single well at Aliso Canyon before beginning to return gas to the massive underground storage reservoir, Marshall said. (Pamer, 2/18)
NBC:
Porter Ranch Gas Leak Permanently Sealed: Officials
Mayor Eric Garcetti said the city's Emergency Management Department will open an office in the Porter Ranch area after the state officially declares the leak stopped. "Stopping the leak is only the first stage of recovery,'' Garcetti said. "Thousands of lives were upended by this disaster -- and the city of Los Angeles is here to help people return to their homes, start doing business again and get back to normal as quickly as possible.'' (2/18)