Appeals court blocks California gas facility from reopening

LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court judge temporarily blocked a Los Angeles natural gas storage facility Friday from reopening a year and a half after a major blowout spewed methane that drove thousands of families from their homes.

The order late in the day by Associate Justice Lamar Baker of the 2nd District Court of Appeal came after Los Angeles County lawyers unsuccessfully tried to get a lower court to stop Southern California Gas Co. from resuming operations at Aliso Canyon.

State regulators last week gave approval to allow the company to pump gas into underground storage wells after an overhaul and rigorous testing. The county said it feared operations would resume Saturday.

The facility above the San Fernando Valley has been largely out of commission since an old well failed in October 2015, unleashing methane for nearly four months and leading 8,000 families to evacuate.

The blowout released the largestknown amount of climate-changing methane in U.S. history and led to widespread complaints of nosebleeds, nausea, headaches and symptoms that persisted even after the leak was capped last year.

The county’s effort to keep the facility closed hinges on a claim that the state’s extensive safety review had not taken into account the risk of an earthquake from a fault that runs through the field.

In rejecting the county’s petition earlier in the day, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Wiley said he didn’t have authority to overturn orders by the California Public Utilities Commission.

“So what’s my power?” Wiley said. “Zero. I have zero power. Because in the 1950s the Legislature said, ‘Hands off. The PUC owns this problem.”’

County lawyer Skip Miller disagreed and said the county would file a last-minute request for a stay with the higher court.

“I think your honor is just deadbang wrong,” Miller told the judge. “This is super important to the county of LA and the 30,000 people who live out there.”