THE BIGGEST U.S. METHANE LEAK EVER LEAKS ON

A single gas well leak is California's biggest contributor to climate change; Rupture of Aliso Canyon well has released more than 77,000 metric tons of methane and refocused attention on America’s accident-prone infrastructure

Suzanne Goldenberg, 5 January 2016 (The Guardian)

“The single biggest contributor to climate change in California is a blown-out natural gas well more than 8,700ft underground...at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage site [owned and operated by SoCalGas which] has released more than 77,000 metric tons of the powerful climate pollutant methane since the rupture was first detected on 23 October [and it has now been revealed that the company removed a blow-out preventer at the bottom of the well in 1979]…Methane is a fast-acting climate pollutant – more than 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year time frame…Experts believe the breach, which has forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents from the town of Porter Ranch, is the largest ever in the US…Locals have complained of headaches, sore throats, nosebleeds and nausea…About 1,000 people are suing the company…The leak is unlikely to be brought under control before late February – and even that timetable depends on work crews’ success in locating and plugging a 7-inch pipe deep underground…The release of methane from the ruptured well has now slowed…[but is] widely seen as the climate equivalent of the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico…” click here for more

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