Monterey Park : Bill for Gas Tests Advances
A bill requiring companies that draw gas from landfills to test it for vinyl chloride before delivering it to consumers has passed the state Assembly and is awaiting action in the Senate.
The bill, by Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), was prompted by a disclosure early this year that gas obtained from the Operating Industries Inc. landfill in Monterey Park by Southern California Gas Co. from 1978 to 1986 was contaminated with vinyl chloride and other carcinogens. The gas company said it diluted the landfill gas with other gas supplies before piping it to customers and that vinyl chloride was never detected in gas in homes.
A spokesman for Southern California Gas Co. said the company, which no longer buys landfill gas, supports Hayden’s bill. In addition to requiring testing for vinyl chloride, an industrial chemical that has been identified as a human carcinogen, the bill would require the state Public Utilities Commission to set a limit on the amount of vinyl chloride that can be permitted in gas obtained from landfills for distribution to the public.
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