The distribution of a $71 million settlement for the Aliso Canyon gas leak was announced Wednesday, a payout intended to address environmental problems stemming from the leak that released more than 100,000 tons of methane into the San Fernando Valley nearly a decade ago.
The massive settlement paid by SoCal Gas, owner of the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Field in Porter Ranch, will fund construction and infrastructure developments aimed at helping neighborhoods affected by the four-month leak – that federal officials have described. as the largest methane gas leak in American history.
While the payout was first announced last year, local officials and community activists held a press conference Wednesday explaining how the payout will now be used for infrastructure and construction changes in nearby communities.
The historic leak led to the evacuation of more than 5,000 homes over a four-month period between 2015 and 2016.
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People living in the area reported complaints of nosebleeds, nausea and headaches, among other adverse health effects. Meanwhile, traces of harmful chemicals and substances such as benzene, a known carcinogen, were found in the atmosphere, according to a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other researchers.
Community activists, local residents and some lawmakers have called for the facility to be closed, saying long-term impacts are still being felt in the years since the leak occurred.
“There’s nine years of suffering, ongoing contamination, emissions,” said Matt Pakucko, president of the advocacy group Save Porter Ranch, describing “terrible reports” detailed in an ongoing UCLA health study. “Let’s be clear: We have seen over the past nine years that Aliso Canyon is a disaster and not a necessity.”
Included in the payout is $40 million to transition homes from natural gas, implementing changes such as replacing gas-powered water heaters with electric-powered hot water heaters, $14 million for infrastructure changes to make senior centers and other buildings housing vulnerable populations more resilient to withstand extreme conditions. heat, $15 million for changes to schoolyards to make them greener and cooler with more shaded areas and $2 million for outreach and education about the leak and the changes being made in light of it.
In 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom directed the California Public Utilities Commission to expedite a permanent closure of the Aliso Canyon gas plant. But two years later, the government agency voted to expand capacity at the plant, a decision that was widely criticized by community activists and local residents, some of whom were critical of Newsom’s handling of the situation.
The governor released a statement following the decision to expand facilities in 2021, saying state officials have been working to close Aliso Canyon, but must still meet California’s current energy needs.
Last month, the Public Utilities Commission announced a proposal to reduce dependence on natural gas from the plant — a series of plans that fall short of actually closing Aliso Canyon completely in a concrete time frame.
Sen. Henry Stern, who represents Porter Ranch and surrounding valley communities in the state Legislature, described the state agency’s proposed plans as “bad news” during Wednesday’s news conference. Meanwhile, he said the payout will provide a number of “practical solutions” to “hopefully work our way out of the tragedy that this eruption has caused.”
In 2022 Stern submitted a bill that would require closing the facility in 2027.
