“We’re in mourning now. We didn’t ever want to leave. ... This wasn’t our plan.”
Laura Gideon and her family endured the sickening stench from an out-of-control natural gas leak for about a month before they could no longer tolerate the nausea, headaches and nosebleeds. After she went to the emergency room in November vomiting and with a severe migraine, Gideon, her husband and their two children abandoned the only home they had ever known together in the upscale Los Angeles suburb of Porter Ranch.
They moved in with her parents about 10 miles away to await a fix that could still be months away.
“We’re in mourning now,” she said. “We didn’t ever want to leave. We were in a nice gated community. We were safe, you know, supposedly good schools. This wasn’t our plan.”
Thousands of her neighbors have voluntarily followed suit in an exodus from an invisible threat that wafts occasionally and doesn’t sicken everyone in its path, although it continues to spew enormous amounts of climate-changing methane.
The leak has cost the utility $50 million, an amount that is expected to balloon as the company tries to plug a well deep underground, while also shelling out compensation for exasperated residents and fighting dozens of lawsuits.
Gov. Jerry Brown declared an emergency last week for the prolonged blowout that requires the utility to cover the costs and instructs state regulators to protect ratepayers.
The well is one of 115 in the Santa Susana Mountains where Southern California Gas Co., a division of San Diegobased Sempra Energy, stores natural gas in a vacant oil field about a mile and a half underground. It is the largest natural gas storage facility west of the Mississippi River and can provide energy to all of Southern California for a month.
It has been gushing the equivalent of about a quarter of the state’s daily output of methane, along with other gases, since the leak was reported Oct. 23. It is also blamed for depositing tiny oil droplets on cars and houses about a mile away.
Public health officials said most of the gas is dissipating and not causing long-term problems, but foul-smelling additives that make highly flammable gas detectable has been blamed for maladies such as irritated throats, coughs and respiratory problems.
“It’s like being in a disaster area, but it’s not a disaster you can see,” said Sue Hammarlund, who has seen her share of national disasters as a Red Cross volunteer and has suffered from headaches and nosebleeds recently. “I think this is more debilitating mentally.”
Two local schools closed before the end of the year, and nearly 1,900 students will start the year at different schools Tuesday.
While more than 4,500 families have either left or are on the move, many have stayed behind — either because they’re not bothered by the smell, aren’t worried or don’t want to hassle with moving.
Bob Casselman has lived near the entrance to the gas facility 43 years. His wife, Pat, has noticed the smell only a few times and had very few symptoms. The retirees are concerned about the impact on property values, but they’re not moving.
“I can’t understand all these people,” Bob Casselman said. “Everybody wants a freebie. ... Unless something’s really bad, we don’t complain.”
The company has apologized for failing to disclose the leak after residents began complaining about the smell and for reacting slowly to their concerns.
The incident, which is unprecedented for a utility, is “forging new ground,” said Gillian Wright, a SoCalGas vice president.
Under orders from the county health department to relocate people who want to leave, SoCalGas has offered to pay up to $250 a night for hotels, plus $45 per person per day for food, or up to $7,500 a month for rental homes. The leak is expected to be stopped in March, but the company has agreed to house people through April.