LA County's Aliso Canyon Lawsuit Says Regulators Ignored Seismic Risk

"State utility and gas regulators ignored a top gas manager's warnings about the risk of earthquakes to aging wells at the Aliso Canyon gas storage field when they okayed it to resume operations, Los Angeles County said Friday in court papers.

The county on Friday asked a Superior Court judge to block Southern California Gas Company from resuming operations at its Aliso Canyon gas storage field near Porter Ranch, site of the nation's largest-ever gas leak in 2015.

The Aliso gas field covers 3,600 acres in the Santa Susana foothills in northern San Fernando Valley. It is dotted by more than 100 wells. Most are more than 50 years old and began as oil wells converted to move gas in and out of depleted underground oil field. One of those wells ruptured hundreds of feet below the surface in late October 2015 and poured about 109,000 metric tons of natural gas into the atmosphere. Thousands of families relocated for months during the four months the gas leak was active."

Sharon McNary reports for KPCC (Southern California Public Radio) July 22, 2017.