PORTER RANCH, Calif. (KNX) — State Sen. Henry Stern (D.-Los Angeles) announced a plan last week to shut down the Aliso Canyon Gas Storage facility within two years.
“So many people are suffering through health issues that are very personal and hard to talk about in public settings,” he said in a press conference on Friday. “But I appreciate the courage of this community to share their sufferings and their pain with the rest of L.A. and the rest of the world and refuse to be silenced by the gas company.”
A 2015 gas leak released roughly 100,000 tons of methane and other chemicals into the environs of Aliso Canyon, which includes Porter Ranch and other northwest San Fernando Valley communities.
Hundreds of lawsuits were filed by residents complaining of health issues resulting from the leak. Plaintiffs received an unprecedented $1.8 billion settlement from Southern California Gas Co. and its parent company, Sempra Energy.
The facility was on track to close down by 2027. Stern’s plan would move that goalpost to 2023.
Stern’s plan involved expanding development of local clean-energy generation, thereby cutting L.A.’s demand for natural gas, improving fuel efficiency measures, and replacing leaky furnaces and water heaters with new heat pumps and “tankless” water heaters. It also called for revamped plans for dealing with weather-related spikes in demand through cross-coordination between the California Independent Systems Operator, the L.A. Department of Water and Power, Southern California Edison, and other local energy stakeholders.
The senator’s plan came at a time of public outcry against the California Public Utilities Commission, which earlier this year approved a plan to temporarily expand the facility ahead of the 2027 shutdown date.
A representative with Southern California Gas wrote in an email that “experts and CPUC staff have consistently recognized that Aliso Canyon continues to play a vital role in the resiliency of California’s energy system, and supports the continued decarbonization of electricity by flexibly working to balance the peaks and valleys of solar and wind supply.”
Stern said Friday he disagrees with the CPUC’s expansion plan.
“I believe the California Public Utilities Commission wants to do the right thing here and heed Governor Newsom’s promise,” he said. “But they need help assembling a plan that may exceed their scope of authority. We’ll need the county, the city, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Southern California Edison, and other arms of state government like the California Energy Commission, the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, environmental justice and consumer groups and others on board to make this work.”
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