Protesters demand permanent closure of Aliso Canyon gas facility

Andrea Leon-Grossman, right, is among those protesting the planned reopening of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility.

July 24, 2017 9 PM PT

Some days, Nicole Cottrell said, her driveway smells like a busy gas station. Other days, it reeks as if someone has poured lighter fluid onto a bonfire.

To this day, the stench triggers an instant headache, leaving her dizzy and nauseous. Often, Cottrell said, her skin breaks out in rashes.

The 21-year-old college student said she fears living in her Porter Ranch home, which sits less than a mile from the site of a massive methane leak that forced her — and thousands of others — to flee in 2015.

So when she heard state regulators last week had deemed the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility safe enough to resume natural gas injections, she was shaken.

Cottrell was among more than 300 protesters who flocked to a Porter Ranch intersection Monday night, organizers said, demanding that the controversial facility be shut down for good.

“I need to sleep easy knowing that I can be in my home,” Cottrell said. “The air is not clean yet.”

Last week’s announcement followed months of inspections at the sprawling field and the implementation of new safety protocols that officials said will protect the public and stave off an energy shortage in Southern California.

“Aliso Canyon is safe to operate,” Southern California Gas Company officials wrote in a letter Monday to elected officials and community leaders. “This is not just our conclusion, but the conclusion of the only state regulators with lawful jurisdiction and expertise to oversee the safety of our operations.”

Standing on the corner of Tampa Avenue and Rinaldi Street, protesters donned red T-shirts that read: “SHUT. IT. ALL. DOWN.” and held signs saying, “People over SoCalGas profits.”

Vikki Salmela, left, a 13 year resident of Porter Ranch, is joined by her dog Joey and other protesters at the intersection of Tampa Ave. and Rinaldi St. in Porter Ranch.

“It’s dangerous, it still leaks,” said Matt Pakucko, president of Save Porter Ranch, which organized the protest.

Los Angeles County is challenging the state’s decision, arguing that the Department of Conservation’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources has “not satisfied the necessary conditions to demonstrate the safety” of the facility.

On Monday, the county filed a temporary restraining order request to block the reopening of the facility. A hearing is slated for Friday.

In a court filing, the county attached a letter from a former gas company employee who said he had made “repeated but unsuccessful efforts” to get the company to address the geologic risk at the facility.

“My belief is that there is potential for catastrophic loss of life,” wrote James Mansdorfer, who managed the company’s gas storage wells and reservoirs for many years.

The Santa Susana Fault, he wrote, crosses every well in the field. Movement along the fault could sever the casing and tubing of every well, resulting in a blowout “100 to 1,000 times the rate” of the 2015 leak.

“Considering that this would occur soon after severe shaking could cause down trees and power lines and structural damage making it difficult for residents to escape, the loss of life could be significant,” he wrote.

Gas company officials said they do not agree with the employee’s assessment and said state regulators “carefully considered” his concerns.

But Porter Ranch residents were not convinced.

“The seismic risk is unaddressed and ‘potential for catastrophic loss of life’ says it all to me,” Pakucko said. “I live here — that’ll be my life.”