Acting to ensure that public safety will be protected before storage activity can resume at the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility, the California State Senate today unanimously approved amendments added by the Assembly to urgency legislation authored by Senator Fran Pavley. With the concurrence of amendments in place and SB 380 approved by the Assembly last week on a bipartisan 70-2 vote, the bill now goes to the governor. It will become effective immediately upon his signature.
SB 380 requires that a rigorous testing protocol developed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratories be strictly followed before operations can resume at the site of a massive gas leak. Over a period of four months before it was finally plugged in late February, the leak forced the relocation of more than 8,000 families and spewed nearly 100,000 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere.
“This bill holds state regulators and SoCal Gas to their promise that all 114 wells will be thoroughly investigated,” said Senator Pavley, whose district includes the community of Porter Ranch that was severely disrupted by the leak. “This is the only course forward that provides maximum protection against another disastrous leak. The Senate today spoke very clearly in asserting that safety must come first.”
“It has taken an enormous effort to make SB 380 law,” said Paula Cracium, president of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council. “We are so grateful that Senator Pavley and our other state regulators worked to ensure the protection and safety of our community.”
The safety testing requirements in SB 380 are aligned with those established by the Brown administration, acting under the governor’s emergency order. They require that all 114 wells undergo two complementary tests to detect leaks. No well could be put back into service until it also passes four additional tests to ensure its structural integrity.
“The residents of Porter Ranch and their neighbors need to know that the remaining natural gas wells are safe after this disastrous gas leak,” said Senator Bob Huff of Diamond Bar, one of the bill’s principal coauthors. “Aliso Canyon must never again pose a risk to public health or safety. This bill strikes a balance between maintaining energy reliability in the region and safety.”
At an informational hearing before the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee last week, a SoCal Gas representative testified he expects all wells will have undergone the leak tests by the end of this week. He also reiterated earlier statements by the company that it expects a limited number of wells can be fully tested, certified as safe, and be ready to resume injecting gas into the storage facility by late summer. Under the conditions of SB 380 and the emergency regulations, all other wells would have to be temporarily sealed and isolated from the facility before injections could resume.
While SB 380 is aligned with the existing emergency moratorium on injections, it goes further in ensuring safety at the facility and in evaluating the long-term future of the site, which is the largest natural gas storage facility in the Western United States.
The bill directs the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to quickly evaluate, using the best available data, how much working gas is currently required at Aliso Canyon to provide for safety and energy reliability and to protect ratepayers by ensuring reasonable rates.
It is Senator Pavley’s hope the CPUC will update its report before the facility begins injections, incorporating findings from ongoing studies and the results of a comprehensive safety review now being conducted by the Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources (DOGGR).
In addition, the bill directs the CPUC, by July 1, 2017, to open a proceeding to evaluate the feasibility of minimizing the use of or shutting down the facility over time.
“My constituents, including some who have not yet returned to their homes out of fear for their family’s safety, want to know that all necessary steps are being taken to ensure their safety and to allow life in their community to finally return to normal,” said Senator Pavley. “SB 380 provides that assurance.”
After safety issues are appropriately addressed, Pavley said she is looking forward to working with critical stakeholders to ensure that Los Angeles and the state are deploying every possible resource to avoid energy reliability challenges this summer, and “to answer the tough questions about how we became so dependent on this one resource in the first place.”
The Senator is also carrying SB 887, one of several bills in a comprehensive package to address natural gas well safety. It passed out of a Senate committee in March. The legislation would comprehensively reform well standards at natural gas storage facilities across California.
Provisions in SB 887 would require continuous monitoring of natural gas concentrations to detect leaks, require DOGGR to regularly inspect all natural gas storage wells, limit gas injection to the internal tubing rather than the entire well casing of wells, require the use of subsurface safety valves, and impose other needed safety standards.
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