FAA bans low-flying planes above Porter Ranch gas leak

Citing safety concerns, the Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily banned low-flying planes above a section of Porter Ranch affected by a gas leak.

The restriction applies to planes flying below 2,000 feet and is expected to remain in place through at least March, according to an FAA document, which was issued Wednesday.

Meanwhile, state regulators Thursday ordered Southern California Gas Co. to provide detailed plans and schedules for how it will plug a natural gas leak that has sickened and displaced scores of San Fernando Valley residents.

The utility has come under fire for its handling of the leak, drawing lawsuits, a citation from air quality regulators over the odor and sharply worded rebukes from officials across the region.

But Steve Bohlen, outgoing head of the state’s oil and gas regulatory division, said Southern California Gas Co. has fully complied with previous orders issued by the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources.

The division’s latest directive, he said, simply “puts in writing some issues that we are directing the company to do what we have discussed with them and they have agreed to.”

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Public health officials have said that the gas being released is mostly methane, which is not dangerous and does not pose long-term health risks. But residents have criticized the gas company, calling it slow to act.

This week, Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer announced he was suing Southern California Gas Co. over how it has handled the incident.

After unsuccessful attempts to plug the leak by pumping fluid into the well, the company is now trying to drill a relief well. Workers would then seal off the leaking well and plug it permanently with concrete.

Thursday’s emergency order requires SoCal Gas to “prepare and deliver” an “updated detailed schedule for the completion of relief well” by Monday. It also calls for a schedule outlining when other tasks will be completed in preparation for a second relief well.

The utility must also produce a list of the ways it could “plug and abandon” the leaking well once a relief well is in place, and must work “expeditiously and aggressively” to capture as much leaking gas as possible.

Bohlen said it did not appear as though SoCal Gas was guilty of any violations in connection with the leak, but added that the division would do an “in-depth analysis once the leak is closed.”

“All of our energies are going into getting the well sealed,” he said. “This is not a simple leak at all.”

Twitter: @bymattstevens

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