A California official outlined a plan Thursday to cap the massive Los Angeles-area gas leak by the end of next week.
Wade Crowfoot, an adviser to Gov. Jerry Brown, told residents of Porter Ranch that the final phase to intercept the ruptured well should start Monday. It is then expected to take another five days to permanently seal the Southern California Gas Co. well that began leaking in October.
The announcement at a public meeting is short of the company's worst-case prediction that it would be plugged by the end of the month. The well has been leaking for 15 weeks, triggering a public health and statewide environmental emergency, according to California's attorney general.
The blowout at the largest natural gas-storage facility in the West has uprooted thousands of residents and spewed more than two million tons of climate-changing methane.
Gas company CEO Dennis Arriola told CBS News last month the work to fix the leak, which is more than 8,000 feet down, is precise.
"When we intercept the leaking well, we basically have to hit the size of about a watermelon," Arriola explained. "We have to be very exact."
Residents have complained of headaches, nausea, nosebleeds and other symptoms. Public health officials blame the woes on an odorant added to the gas and said there shouldn't be any long-term health problems.
Arriola told CBS News the health impacts have been overblown, saying he felt "totally safe" being near the leak.
"The odorant that people are smelling, that's unfortunately causing a lot of this inconvenience, is a short-term issue for people," Arriola said. "Once we finish closing or solving the leak and closing the well, the issues go away."
SoCalGas said it paid $50 million to try to cap the leak and relocate people through December, but it hasn't given an update on the costs. The number of relocated families has since soared to 4,400 households, and the company is facing more than two dozen lawsuits from residents and several public agencies.
The company was charged this week by the Los Angeles district attorney with misdemeanor criminal charges for failing to let state emergency officials know about the leak for three days after it was detected Oct. 23.
Several state agencies have ordered the company to plug the leak and are investigating its cause. Members of Congress have urged the U.S. secretary of energy to investigate the leak, and federal regulators are crafting new safety standards for underground natural gas storage facilities.
( Source )