Frustrated California residents gather over gas leak woes
Frustrated California residents, who have been forced to leave their homes over an unprecedented methane leak in the state, have held a protest gathering in northern Los Angeles to vent their frustration.
Residents sickened over the biggest methane gas leak in state history voiced their frustration at a public meeting in Porter Ranch on Friday, with many saying they opposed the resumption of work at the natural gas facility in the city’s north where the accident happened, Reuters reported.
About 1,000 residents attended the meeting to voice their concerns to a panel of local and state officials.
Attendees held signs that read "Shut it all down," and asked about the immediate impact on their health, whether they had stayed in their homes or decided to relocate, with expenses to be covered by Southern California Gas Co, one of the country's biggest gas utilities and a division of San Diego-based Sempra Energy.
Southern California Gas Co has said the leak was caused by a broken injection-well pipe several hundred feet beneath the surface of the 3,600-acre field. The company aims to complete a relief well to stop the leak by late March.
Neither the state nor the utility has been able to stop the leak that has affected thousands of residents since it was detected on October 23 at an underground natural gas storage field in Porter Ranch in northern LA.
Some environmental activists have called it the worst leak in the United States since the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company in question has said stopping the leak is its highest priority and is committed to working with the community. It could not be reached for comment about the meeting.
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