What happened this week in California could be a wakeup call to many natural gas utilities across the nation. Los Angeles prosecutors filed misdemeanor criminal charges against the Southern California Gas Co. for failing to immediately report a natural gas leak that had been gushing nonstop for nearly 15 weeks.
District Attorney Jackie Lacey admitted the charges are not the solution to the problem but said the utility needed to be held responsible for the leak that uprooted more than 4,400 families. The charges were filed the same day that the California Attorney General Kamala Harris joined others in suing the gas company for the blowout that dumped more than 2 million tons of methane since October of 2015. The criminal complaint accused Southern California Gas of three counts of failing to report the release of a hazardous material and one count of discharge of air contaminants. Southern California officials say they will vigorously defended the company in court. Arraignment is set for later in the month. If convicted, Southern California could be fined up to $1,000 a day for air pollution violations and up to $25,000 for each of the three days it did not notify the State Office of Emergency Services of the leak.
At least two dozen lawsuits have been filed against SoCalgas over the leak while the company said it paid $50 million through December in an attempt to cap the leak and relocate people. Company officials said they hope to plug the leak by the end of the month.
Several state agencies are investigating the blowout at the 60-year old well. The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration joined the probe this week, adding that it was working to propose new regulations for gas storage.
What caused the blowout and leak remain a mystery and SoCalGas said it would not know the cause until the well is plugged.
