Aliso Canyon gas facility can reopen, officials say
Injections will resume at a reduced capacity at the site of a massive methane leak.
The Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility, where the largest methane leak in U.S. history forced thousands to flee their homes, can resume natural gas injections at a reduced capacity, state officials said Wednesday.
The announcement follows months of inspections at the sprawling field above Porter Ranch and the implementation of new safety protocols that officials said would protect the public and stave off an energy shortage in Southern California.
“This facility will be held to the most rigorous monitoring, inspection and safety requirements in the nation and will store only the minimum gas necessary to supply the Los Angeles area,” Ken Harris, head of the state Department of Conservation’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, said in a statement.
For months starting in 2015, a ruptured well at the facility spewed tens of thousands of tons of gas. Roughly 8,000 families in and around the northwest San Fernando Valley neighborhood were driven from their homes, with many complaining of health issues that included cancer, nausea and nosebleeds.
The blowout, which at its peak more than doubled the methane emissions of the entire Los Angeles Basin, took more than four months to plug. It sparked a political firestorm, with residents and elected officials demanding that the facility be shut down.
Now, the facility will operate at 28% of its capacity, said Timothy Sullivan, executive director of the California Public Utilities Commission.
“What this does is it allows us to set the operating standards to be based on what … amount of gas is critical for reliability in the South Coast basin,” Sullivan said in a call with reporters.
More than half of the wells have been taken out of operation. Those that remain are now equipped with real-time pressure monitors and must be inspected daily using infrared and other leak-detecting technology, officials said.
Southern California Gas Co., which operates the facility, has also prepared a risk management plan that identifies prevention and mitigation steps for potential hazards, officials said.
It’s unclear exactly when injections will resume, because the company still must complete a leak survey and measure methane emissions at the site, said Melissa Bailey, a company spokeswoman.
Political leaders and environmentalists were critical of Wednesday’s decision, with some calling the move unnecessary and reckless because officials have not determined what caused the
The Wal-Mart greeter who took the retail giant all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in the largest gender bias class-action lawsuit in U.S. history has died, a family member said Tuesday.
Betty Dukes died July 10 at her home in Antioch, Calif., said her niece, Rita Roland. Dukes was 67.
“She was a very tough lady, very driven and passionate about what she believed in. She was persuasive. She just didn’t want to tell her point, she wanted you to have an understanding so you could come to the same conclusions that she had,” Roland said.
As the lead plaintiff in Dukes vs. Wal-Mart, she alleged in the 2001 lawsuit that the company violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which made it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of race, creed or gender.
Dukes said Wal-Mart systemically paid women less than male counterparts and promoted men to higher positions at faster rates than women.
The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011, where it was dismissed.
But Roland said the dismissal was not in vain for her aunt.
“The one thing I do know is the work that she did is f luid. It has not stopped,” said the Milpitas woman who often traveled with Dukes when she was working on the case. “She was one of many voices fighting for the same cause.”
An ordained minister, Dukes’ faith was the foundation for everything she did, including taking on the retail giant, Roland said.
“She believed in helping people,” Roland said.
In her off time, Dukes helped organize community banquets with speakers celebrating Martin Luther King Day, Black History Month and the election of President Obama. She also helped distribute food to the needy.
At least twice a year, she would speak to groups about her past struggles and how people should work to fight for women’s rights, Roland said.
And she always did it looking her Sunday best. “Matching purse, shoes and accessories. She took pride in the way she dressed,” Roland said.
Dukes was born in Louisiana in 1950 and moved west at a young age with her mother, who was in search of work. She later married but had no children. In 1994, she enthusiastically accepted an offer to work the Wal-Mart cash registers part time for $5 an hour. She dreamed of turning around a hard life by advancing, through work and determination, into Wal-Mart corporate management.
“I was focused on WalMart’s aggressive customer service,” Dukes said in 2011 interview during her lunch break, after first saying grace over a meal of fastfood hamburgers and chicken nuggets. “I wanted to advance. I wanted to make that money.”
When Dukes needed change to make a small purchase during her break she asked a colleague to open a cash register with a one-cent transaction, which she claimed was a common practice.
She was demoted for misconduct. She complained to a manager that the punishment was too severe and part of a long campaign of discrimination that began almost as soon as she started working for WalMart in Pittsburg, a blue-collar city of about 100,000 in the East Bay Area.
When those complaints were ignored, Dukes sought legal advice and ended up serving as the lead plaintiff in what would become the vast class-action suit.
Dukes worked for WalMart until last year.