A lawsuit against Southern California Gas Company is seeking immediate emergency measures from the Court to require that Southern California Gas Co. release information about the health risks related to exposure to the blowout. The lawsuit also seeks damages on behalf of the residents of Porter Ranch.
Southern California Gas Co., SoCalGas, acknowledged at the end of October 2015 that one of the 8,500-foot-deep underground storage wells in its Aliso Canyon Gas Storage Facility leaked natural gas less than 5 miles from the Porter Ranch, Chatsworth, Northridge, and Granada Hills, California cities.
In October 2015, residents of Porter Ranch and the Greater Los Angeles area first reported odor and illness caused by the blowout of natural gas wells. Nausea, dizziness, vomiting, nosebleeds, and headaches have been endured by residents. Due to the risk, thousands of residents have been evacuated from their homes. Southern California Gas Co. has failed to provide ample details on the health consequences that residents of Porter Ranch face due to exposure to the blowout.
Two schools were relocated over the next four months and thousands of individuals were put in temporary housing. Until early February 2016, the leak was not repaired.
Residents of the neighboring communities reported heavy, rotten egg-like odors shortly after the leak was made public, and started to experience various physical symptoms, including headaches, nausea, nosebleeds, irritated sinuses, and trouble breathing. SoCalGas was directed by the L.A. County Health Department to evacuate people into temporary housing before it could contain the leak.
The Problem is Much, Much Bigger Than Just Porter Ranch
The blowout of the gas well is of huge proportions and no end is in sight. "According to the Los Angeles Times," the spill released 0.80 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the air board reports, about the same amount of pollution as driving 160,000 cars a year or drinking 90 million gallons of gas.
The shocking scale of the gas well blowout illustrates the significance of accountability, something Southern California Gas Co. is being blamed for failing to provide. This finding "underscores the importance of stopping the gas leak." Southern California Gas Co. must provide appropriate health and safety information to the public about any environmental and health hazards that the public can face because of the incident.