Activists from Food & Water Watch, Save Porter Ranch, Consumer Watchdog and the Aliso Canyon Community Action Committee will demonstrate at a rally before the hearings, calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to shut down the facility.
By Olga Grigoryants, THE LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
August 2, 2019
San Fernando Valley residents will testify Tuesday, Aug. 6, at a state oversight hearing focusing on the Aliso Canyon underground storage facility.
Activists from Food & Water Watch, Save Porter Ranch, Consumer Watchdog and the Aliso Canyon Community Action Committee will demonstrate at a rally before the hearings, calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to shut down the facility.
The rally will take place at 9 a.m. at Porter Ranch Community School, 12450 Mason Ave., with the hearings following at 10 a.m.
At the hearing, Sen. Henry Stern, D-Canoga Park and Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita, will examine state regulators’ response to the massive gas leak that began Oct. 23, 2015 and released more than 100,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas into the air.
Dr. Jeffrey Nordella, a physician who has been tracking symptoms in residents who live in nearby communities, will give an update on his health study.
An independent investigation into the gas leak released in May showed the Aliso Canyon site experienced dozens of gas before the 2015 blowout. Yet no investigations were conducted by SoCalGas company, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, which owns the site, according to a report by Blade Energy Partners ordered by state regulators.
In addition, the gas company didn’t use the best available procedures to stop the leaking gas, which took 111 days, according to the report.
Olga Grigoryants is a multimedia reporter focusing on urban development, business and culture. She also supports the paper in its watchdog role to hold San Fernando Valley power players accountable and loves digging for public records. After studying writing in Moscow, she moved to Los Angeles in 2007 and has called it home ever since. She earned her master’s degree from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and has published articles with Reuters, Bloomberg, the Los Angeles Business Journal and LA Weekly. Along the way, she picked up awards from the Los Angeles Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists. If you want to get on her bright side, she loves a perfect cup of matcha latte.
