http://www.dailynews.com/business/2...on-to-wisping-vapors-of-a-single-table-candle
Does anybody really believe the SoCal Gas explanation?
Especially in light of more recent leaks in the South Bay?
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/09/16/crews-to-attempt-to-cap-methane-gas-leak-in-hawthorne/
SoCalGas likens new methane detected at Aliso Canyon to ‘wisping vapors of a single table candle
New methane detected at the Aliso Canyon Storage Facility’s SS-25 well is “off-gassing from the soil that has previously been observed at the site,” says a spokesman for SoCalGas. (File photo by Dean Musgrove/Los Angeles Daily News)
By Brenda Gazzar, Los Angeles Daily News
POSTED: 12/26/16, 2:10 PM PST | UPDATED: 2 HRS AGO
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The massive, nearly four-month gas leak detected on Oct. 23, 2015 at Aliso Canyon emitted 109,000 metric tons of methane and displaced more than 8,300 households. (File photo by Dean Musgrove/Los Angeles Daily News)
Southern California Gas Co. officials sought to allay concerns Monday about a “small amount” of methane seeping since Saturday from the vicinity of a plugged storage well near the San Fernando Valley that was responsible for the nation’s largest atmospheric release of natural gas.
SoCalGas spokesman Chris Gilbride said a “very slight and intermittent indication of methane” was detected Saturday morning near the SS-25 wellhead at the Aliso Canyon storage facility above the upscale Los Angeles community of Porter Ranch.
Before the leaking well was plugged in February, it spewed more than 100,000 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere over more than three months, sickened thousands and prompted the temporary relocation of more than 8,300 households and two schools.
TRIGGERED BY RAINSTORMS
Gilbride said The Gas Co. has determined that recent rainstorms “triggered” the latest release of methane that had been trapped in the soil, a phenomenon referred to as “off-gassing,” after the massive, months-long leak that was discovered at the site in October 2015.
“The methane releases are very slight and not believed to pose a present or potential hazard to human health, safety or the environment,” Gilbride said. “The highly sensitive infrared camera images indicate an amount similar to the wisping vapors of a single table candle.”
Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, confirmed Monday that the agency is “not detecting any elevated levels (of methane) in the community at the boundary” with the facility.
Air regulators generally would not suspect a leak from wells at Aliso Canyon until measurements reach 4 parts of methane per million parts of air, he said. The last time there was a reading above 3 was in October, he said.
“Since last summer, levels have been basically background levels,” said Atwood, who described such levels as what one would expect to see on average across the region on a daily basis.
NO COMPLAINTS REPORTED
No complaints concerning Aliso Canyon were reported to the air pollution control agency over the weekend, Atwood said. The agency also sent inspectors to the community on Saturday and “they detected no odors,” he said.
But The Gas Co.’s statements did little to appease anxious area residents, many of whom are still reeling over the months-long environmental disaster that disrupted their lives.
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“From our perspective, it’s just another example of all the unknowns we have to face living next to the facility,” said Issam Najm, board president of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council, on Monday. “The reality of it is we’re just sitting around waiting for the next notification and we’ve had enough of that.”
Citing quality-of-life as well as health concerns, the board sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown last month asking for his assistance “to secure the permanent shutdown” of the Aliso Canyon facility.
“I wish the Gas Co. would have the moral courage to say ‘maybe it’s time to retire this facility’ and let them work with the state on finding a safe way of getting to that retirement without compromising the gas supply” for the region, he said.
TRAPPED ‘RESIDUAL METHANE’
The state’s Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) noted in February in a document that some “residual methane” trapped in the soil is “expected to seep out of the ground around the leaking well after the well is successfully controlled and then sealed.”
Meanwhile, DOGGR is conducting a comprehensive review of well safety at the 3,600-acre underground Aliso Canyon storage field as well as a root-cause analysis of the massive gas leak that started there last year. SoCalGas has requested permission to resume injections there following a moratorium after last year’s leak.
DOGGR’s findings are expected to be announced in early 2017, which will be followed by a meeting to gather public comment on the safety review. State regulators have said the primary focus of DOGGR with respect to the Aliso Canyon facility “is ensuring that public health, safety and the environment are protected.”
Interested parties will be given 15 days’ notice of the meeting, according to the state’s Department of Conservation, to which DOGGR belongs.
Public comment also can now be submitted by email to alisocomments@conservation.ca.gov.