State official ‘confident’ in facility’s safety

blowout.

“We think the numbers will show that Aliso Canyon simply isn’t needed, and that our utility system operates safely and reliably, and consumers are protected without it. So why take the risk?” said Tim O’Connor, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund. “The state simply hasn’t done its due diligence here.”

Meanwhile, the chairman of the California Energy Commission, Robert Weisenmiller, said his staff is ready to work with necessary agencies to shut down the field within 10 years.

“I am confident that through sustained investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, electric storage technologies and other strategies, we can make this transition a reality,” he wrote in a letter to the head of the Public Utilities Commission.

Los Angeles City Councilman Mitchell Englander, who represents Porter Ranch, said he was disappointed by the state’s decision to resume operations at the site but “encouraged” that the Energy Commission would seek to close the facility within a decade.

The gas leak “showed the danger of operating such facilities near residential areas,” he said. “And while state regulatory agencies have taken steps to improve safety at the facility, the only way to ensure that history does not repeat itself is through permanent closure of the facility.”

But according to Harris, the head of the state oil and gas division, the facility has undergone one of the “most rigorous inspections in the nation.”

“We have staff on the mountain almost every day. There are milestones they have to make, and they have to report them to us,” Harris said. “I’m confident the field is safe and can be opened safely.”