Friday, January 8th 2016. Jerry Brown, governor of California State in USA; declared Porter Ranch in state of emergency due to a methane gas leak that started back in October last year. This incident has caused the mobilization of millions of people in the area in order to keep their safety.
Porter Ranch’s community is located north of San Fernando, inside the Los Angeles County; and around 30.000 people live in it. Which is why the governor ordered all the state agencies to use the necessary resources to ensure a quick response to this event which started past October 23rd, at the installation of a methane warehouse facility in Aliso Canyon.
As a safety measure, over 2000 families have been temporarily relocated; schools remain closed and all air transit has been forbidden until March.
The Southern California Gas Company efforts have not been successful in stopping the leak; which is why Brown rushed the authorities to take drastic measures with the goal of capturing and removing the gas. He also stated that an exhaustive investigation is underway to know how this problem came to start; guaranteeing as a priority the protection of public health and committing himself to keeping the citizens informed about the progress of the investigation.
Many of Porter Ranch’s inhabitants manifested concerning physical symptoms such as headaches, nausea and dizziness; although scientists assert these symptoms are not caused by the methane, but rather by the chemical products added to the gas in order to be able to detect the leaks by smell alone. It’s estimated that the amount of methane expelled to the atmosphere is around 30.000 kilograms per hour, and around 79.000 tons of the gas have leaked to the outside to date. Details up next, in this Wochit Youtube video:
A statement issued by the governor explained that the State of California will be responsible for the expenses caused by this disaster. Many specialists consider this one to be the biggest natural disaster to have happened in USA, after the Mexican Gulf oil spill in 2010.
In both cases we talk about the prolonged leak of fossil fuels. However, while in the Gulf of Mexico the spill was more than evident due to fires in the platform and the subsequent black tide; the leak in Porter Ranch is invisible. Comparing these two disasters gives us an idea of the great environmental impact a gas leak causes; even though greenhouse gases are expelled daily into the atmosphere coming from car’s exhaust pipes, small gas explosions or electric central chimneys.
The Aliso Canyon leak case is alarming, since it’s a massive CO2 leak; one of the main causes for California’s climatic change.
ALFA