The Ongoing California Natural-Gas Leak Is a Disaster for the Planet

The community of Porter Ranch looks like any other prosperous Los Angeles suburb: green lawns, tree-lined streets, three-car garages. But in the hills behind houses that might have sold for a million dollars just months ago, an estimated 65,000 lb. of methane gas per hour is spilling from a 7-in. hole in the ground, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes and polluting the climate–and it’s all invisible.

The rupture in an underground pipe linking one of the country’s largest natural-gas storage reservoirs, known as Aliso Canyon, to the earth’s surface has created one of the worst environmental disasters in recent memory. And the leak, which began in October, will take months more to fix. Children in the area have experienced headaches, bloody noses and vomiting. The Federal Aviation Administration declared the area a no-fly zone out of concern that an aircraft might ignite the highly flammable invisible natural gas. California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency this month.

The accident may be unique in its enormous scale–one day of the leak warms the climate at a rate equivalent to driving more than 4.5 million cars for a day–but it’s just one of thousands of leaks plaguing the country’s vast natural-gas system. Wear and tear on the system has worsened in recent years as new fracking technology has greatly expanded the area being drilled. The boom has generally been a good thing–natural gas burns cleaner than coal, and the promotion of gas has been a key part of Obama’s climate program. But natural gas’s green credentials are diminished by leaks. And new research shows that leaks are uncomfortably common.

It’s not clear what caused this leak. Industry experts point to the age of the Aliso Canyon storage facility–it’s more than 60 years old–as well as equipment that, while meeting regulatory requirements, has not been updated in decades. What’s clear is that the Southern California Gas Co. was slow to recognize the scale of the disaster after it discovered the leak in late October. The company first tried to plug the leak by filling the well’s shaft with fluid. But the pressure of the gas as it pushed up from the ground was simply too strong.

The company acknowledged in December–after an estimated 50,000 metric tons leaked–that it had no alternative but to drill a relief well. The process, similar to the method ultimately used to stop the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, involves drilling a new well that curves around and intercepts the leaky well deep underground. Engineers will then fill the relief well with mud and fluid intended to seal the original well. Southern California Gas says the operation should be done by March. “We share everyone’s concerns about this leak’s ongoing impact on the community and environment, and we are working as quickly and as safely as possible to stop it,” says Gillian Wright, a customer-service executive for the company.

That’s a time frame that pleases no one. Porter Ranch residents say they’ve experienced a slew of short-term illnesses they connect to the gas spill. Property values have plummeted. Environmentalists warn that the longer the leak goes on, the bigger the impact all that methane–a more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide–will have on the climate.

But the gas company argues, and engineers who work on drilling projects agree, that there’s simply no way to fix the well faster. “This is very big and complex,” said Timothy O’Connor, director of the Environmental Defense Fund’s California oil and gas program. “Does that mean you get a free pass because your leaks are very difficult? Or does that mean you should be held to a higher standard of care?”

Aliso Canyon is not the only storage facility in the U.S. that is at risk of leaking. There are more than 400 natural-gas storage facilities fashioned out of former mines and other underground formations that together store some 3.6 trillion cu. ft. of natural gas. The gas is moved to U.S. homes, businesses and power plants through a vast network of pipes and service lines.

Adam Brandt, a Stanford professor who studies energy engineering, argues that such a complex system needs regular maintenance. “It’s like going to the dentist and fixing problems while they’re small,” he says. But much of the natural-gas network has operated for decades with little investment in efforts to inspect and update the system, while regulations are outdated and often lightly enforced. A full accounting for methane leaks is difficult to compile, but recent research has estimated that natural-gas-gathering facilities alone leak 100 billion cu. ft. of methane each year–more gas than the entire country burns in a day. Obama proposed new rules last year to reduce fugitive methane emissions from the power sector, but even if finalized–the rules face GOP and industry opposition–they would address only a small portion of total leaks.

The Porter Ranch spill may be a wake-up call. California launched an emergency rulemaking effort this month that requires the use of infrared technology to detect leaks–methane is visible on infrared video–and regular testing of safety valves used on wells. Without such efforts, energy- and environmental-policy makers may need to rethink how they use gas to fight climate change. “This is the beginning. We’re going to see this all over the place,” said R. Rex Parris, an attorney for displaced residents. “These wells are messed up just like our roads and bridges are messed up. But at least you can see that.”