February 18, 2016 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

As U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz arrived in Southern California to tour the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility where a leak has caused the evacuation of thousands of people, two Bay Area residents scaled the entrance to the headquarters of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) -- occupying a ledge to protest the PUC's failure to protect the state from the climate and health impacts of methane from underground natural gas storage facilities, and to raise awareness of Senate Bill 380.  

SoCalGas Has Got To Go! #ShutItALLDown Protest. Credit: Save Porter Ranch Community Facebook

The CPUC is one of two agencies responsible for oversight of underground natural gas storage facilities.

On Oct. 23, 2015, a well blew out at Southern California Gas Company's (SoCalGas) Aliso Canyon facility near Porter Ranch. Since then, 96,000 metric tons of methane have leaked into the atmosphere -- the equivalent of an additional 505,000 cars on the road for a year.

SoCalGas, a division of Sempra Energy, uses the Aliso Canyon facility to store natural gas for delivery to 12 natural gas power plants and 21 million consumers in Southern California. Aliso Canyon is one of 12 underground natural gas storage facilities in California and one of 326 nationwide that use depleted oil and gas wells for storage.                    

For its part, SoCalGas is working closely with the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) to permanently seal the well at its Alison Canyon storage facility.

"While plugging the leak at Aliso Canyon has been a good step, today we are demanding that the PUC shut down all gas storage facilities; until they do, we are occupying the PUC," said Christy Tennery-Spalding from Diablo Rising Tide, the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of Rising Tide North America.\

On Dec. 4, 2015, SoCalGas commenced drilling a relief well to control the flow of natural gas by plugging the leaking well at its base. On Feb. 11, 2016, the company pumped heavy fluids and successfully controlled the flow of gas out of the leaking well. On Feb. 12, SoCalGas began to pump cement from the relief well into the base of the leaking well.

"We have started the process of permanently sealing the well," said Jimmie Cho, SoCalGas senior vice president of gas operations and system integrity and SoCalGas incident commander. "We will be working with DOGGR to complete a diagnostic process to confirm that the cementing process was successful and the well is permanently sealed."

Representatives from DOGGR and other state and local agencies are at the site and are observing the operation to seal the well. The leak event will be officially terminated when DOGGR confirms that the well has been permanently sealed, a process that could take multiple days.

Protesters continue to try to raise awareness of SB 380, which will keep a moratorium on gas injections at the facility until it is inspected and deemed safe by DOGGR.

"DOGGR is in no place to judge what's a reasonable risk to our community, but nonetheless, this is an important step in keeping this facility permanently shut down," a statement on the Save Porter Ranch Community's Facebook page read.

The hearing on the bill is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 22.

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