Posted on 12/14/2015 9:05:12 PM PST by Citizen Zed
A giant stream of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is blowing hundreds of feet into the air in Los Angeles County for the seventh week. The release cancels out hundreds of smaller efforts over more than a decade to clamp down on escapes of the gas, a priority because in the short term, methane is a far more powerful climate-warming gas than carbon dioxide.
The unbridled release of methane, the main component of natural gas, has created a high risk work environment for those trying to extinguish the leak. And many residents of nearby Porter Ranch say an additive in the gas is making them ill.
Pilots flying low have been told by the Federal Aviation Administration to stay clear of the plume for fear of igniting the vapors. More than 1,800 families have sought relocation due to the fumes. Southern California Gas Co. officials say it will be months before the leak can be stopped.
The gas is pouring out of the ground near a damaged well used to inject gas into an old sandstone oil field for storage.
"I think what we are seeing is probably one of the single largest releases of methane in California history," said Tim O'Connor, who used to inspect major facilities like refineries for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and now works for the Environmental Defense Fund. "People I speak with who are experts in the field say this is the biggest, most complex leak that they have ever seen."
Authorities estimate the rupture in the well, perhaps more than a mile deep, is sending 100,000 pounds of methane into the air per hour.
The Aliso Canyon Gas Storage Field, covered with wells, is owned by Southern California Gas Co., a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, based in San Diego.
"We have never had an escape this large," said Gillian Wright, vice president for customer services for Southern California Gas. "I have to really emphasize this is an extremely rare event. The extent and the difficulty of resolving this leak are highly, highly unusual."
All the methods the company has tried so far to kill the well have failed. Now experts who fought the Kuwait oil field fires have joined the effort. The safety of the some 100 workers on the site is also a concern. Wright said that is why on some days, the company cannot perform certain work. If the wind is blowing methane over certain equipment, crews cannot start that equipment, she said.
As of the weekend, 1,800 families, ill or frightened by sulfurous gas drifting down from the site, have been relocated from Porter Ranch, paid for by the gas company. An additional 1,433 families have asked to be moved, with some still deciding, said Melissa Bailey, a company spokeswoman.
Among those who have left are George Chang and Susan Gorman-Chang. Gorman-Chang said the first time she felt the full impact of the unfolding events was midway through her customary five-mile run, when she felt the strong smell of gas, or to be precise, an additive intended to give an odor to the otherwise odorless gas. With no alternative, she ran through it until she reached home. "I was really, really dizzy the next morning." she said.
Then on Sunday, Nov. 22, before church, she said, she opened the back door to let the dog out and was sickened by gas. Now the Changs live in an extended stay hotel with a mini kitchen, but no oven.
Some of her fellow refugee neighbors are considering getting air filters, but she has mixed feelings.
"Are we in one of those sci-fi movies where you run from your car to your home and you can never go outside?" she asked. "How is that okay? What kind of a world have we created up there?"
Several lawsuits have been filed. Marquee environmental litigators are partnering in the effort. They liken the release to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.
At a gathering Dec. 9 organized by lawyers, they struck at residents' deepest fears.
"Everyone here has suffered a huge property loss," said trial attorney R. Rex Parris. "The secret is out. There is a bomb underneath you."
Steve Bohlen, the scientist who heads California's oil and gas agency, said making sure that Southern California Gas seals the well quickly and appropriately has "consumed the attention" of his division.
"We have directed them to build a relief well," he said. "We have directed them to prepare a second relief well."
But the oil and gas chief said if the state is too directive, it risks assuming liability for the consequences.
"This is Southern California Gas' problem to fix," Bohlen stressed.
Some researchers say not enough attention has been paid to to underground gas storage fields, a mainstay of the natural gas distribution system, if little known to the average gas customer. In the western United States these storage areas often consist of older oil fields where the original production wells have been converted to injection wells for gas. Sometimes new injection wells are drilled.
The natural gas is gathered from remote areas, in this case Texas, New Mexico, the Rocky Mountains or Canada. Pipelines bring it to places like Aliso Canyon where it is compressed and pushed into formations until it is withdrawn when Southern Californians fire up their heaters in winter.
Aliso Canyon is the largest such facility on the West Coast, according to Wright. Withdrawals continue as the gas escapes and, in fact, the company is withdrawing gas as quickly as possible to diminish the pressure that is forcing the gas to escape. Aliso Canyon can hold 86 billion cubic feet of gas. "It is the heart of our system in terms of supplying and managing demand," Wright said.
Officials who have focused on reducing methane emissions because of the impact on the atmosphere have paid more attention to regulations on pipelines and wells and the other places from which methane escapes. O'Connor, of the Environmental Defense Fund said the gas gushing from Aliso Canyon is roughly equal to that emitted by six coal-fired power plants or 7 million extra cars. "I think we have found a regulatory gap," he said.
This report comes from inewsource, an investigative journalism nonprofit in San Diego, and Inside Energy, a public media collaboration.
My wife was saying something about a gas leak that seems to never go away...
I wish they’d cap the plumes that have been spewing out of DC for past 50 years.
No smoking hot spot1. The greenhouse signature is missing. We have been looking and measuring for years, and cannot find it.
Each possible cause of global warming has a different pattern of where in the planet the warming occurs first and the most. The signature of an increased greenhouse effect is a hot spot about 10km up in the atmosphere over the tropics. We have been measuring the atmosphere for decades using radiosondes: weather balloons with thermometers that radio back the temperature as the balloon ascends through the atmosphere. They show no hot spot. Whatsoever.
If there is no hot spot then an increased greenhouse effect is not the cause of global warming. So we know for sure that carbon emissions are not a significant cause of the global warming. If we had found the greenhouse signature then I would be an alarmist again.
Maybe that’s the real reason they don’t want you to BBQ outside.
It’s time to light that gas.
Maybe the safest thing too.
The releases are measured in “CFEs,” which is short for “Cow Fart Equivalent.”
There is a serious problem with natural gas leaks nowadays that everyone should be aware of- The gas companies have always put a chemical into the gas, so that it could be smelled. The problem is that the gas utilities have changed the chemical, and if you thought that you knew what gas smells like, you just might not recognize a leak now. It’s not the same chemical now, and it does not smell the same. My next door neighbor (in central Texas) had a gas leak a few months back, at his meter, and I did smell it, very strongly, but it was so different, I thought it was just a skunk. I did not realize that was a gas leak.
I know that woman!
Hey, they could start a garage band or sumpin.
Simple answer; ignite it and let it "flare off". Convert the methane to CO2...
When I was a kid, and we camped out in the "oil patch", we never took lanterns with us, because all the flaring gas from the wells provided plenty of light.
~~~~~~~~~~
That should mess with the heads of the Gorebull Wahrumists... '-)
Well it should be empty in a couple of years if they remembered to stop putting more gas into the well. I figured 3 Billion cubic feet dumped already.
The closest gator to the boat is who gets the blame? Must be someone with a lot of money like Trump, or Algore, or Hillary. Or the Californians. Yes it is the citizens fault and they will pay big time for this screw up.
Not counting the Brown family
That was my thought too. Light a match, throw it in. Throw a boiler over it, collect the steam in a turbine that is connected to an electromagnetic motor. Hook some wires to it and plug it in.
Problem solved.
Either that or LA goes up in flames. Both options are positive outcomes.
Aw, dammit.
I was hoping for longer, hotter summers like we used to have.
:-\
It's a great lantern at night.
It's been burning for over 40 years
"OK, what was next?"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.