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Date: January 22, 2016 at 08:56:54
From: mr bopp, [DNS_Address]
Subject: The Porter Ranch Gas Leak: Blame Gov. Jerry Brown |
URL: http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/22/the-porter-ranch-gas-leak-blame-jerry-brown/ |
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it's the company we keep...
January 22, 2016
The Porter Ranch Gas Leak: Blame Gov. Jerry Brown
Long Beach, California.
News came earlier this week that the horrific natural gas leak spewing methane at Porter Ranch, just outside Los Angeles, will be capped and contained by the end of February. Of course, it’s a promise that has come far too late. If you think Donald Trump is a national disgrace, you haven’t been paying much attention to what’s been happening here in California. Not that you can be blamed for not knowing how bad the atmosphere-warming leak actually is, nobody that has the power to do anything about it seems to care all that much, certainly not California’s governor-for-life Jerry Brown.
While the leak was first discovered in late October, it took Brown two full months to declare a state of emergency. This, after UC Davis scientist Stephen Conley in early November determined that 100,000 pounds of methane was leaking per hour at the site, or 1,200 tons per day. Of course, this inaction is par for the course for Brown, who has long ignored the perils of oil and gas production in the state, especially when it comes to fracking. In the short term, scientists estimate the leaking methane is more than 80 times more potent than CO2 when it comes warming of our atmosphere.
“To put this into perspective, the leak effectively doubles the emission rate for the entire Los Angeles Basin,” attested Conley. “On a global scale, this is big.”
For what it’s worth, the Obama administration, longtime boosters of natural gas, hasn’t been much help either. While activists have called on the White House to declare the Porter Ranch leak a natural disaster so residents can seek tax and mortgage relief, Obama has ignored their pleas. As of early January, 6,500 families had applied for relocation assistance–the stench of methane is simply too unbearable to live with. All of this could have been prevented of course, because the Aliso Canyon storage facility, which is owned by SoCalGas, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, did not have a safety valve in place that would have helped to avert such a catastrophe.
SoCalGas also doesn’t appear to be too concerned with the welfare of those living in and around Porter Ranch. They won’t release air quality data and were seeking to expand the gas facility before they even dealt with their leak.
“At this rate, in just one month, the leak will have accounted for one-quarter of the total estimated methane emissions in the state of California. So it is no surprise that residents here feel sick,” writes Erin Brockovich, who has called the Porter Ranch leak the BP oil spill on land. “While I can escape to my home to recover from my symptoms, this community wakes up to conditions that cause vomiting, nosebleeds and serious respiratory issues daily. And no one really knows the potential long-term side effects of benzene and radon, the carcinogens that are commonly found in natural gas. This dangerous environment is why the Los Angeles Unified School District unanimously voted last week to close two Porter Ranch schools and relocate their nearly 1,900 students and staff to protect their safety.”
A sane approach to the situation would be to be to immediately put a halt to all oil and gas production in Aliso Canyon (an outright ban on all fracking in California wouldn’t be a bad idea either). Currently there is legislation slogging its way through Sacramento to this effect, but it’s likely to die a slow death in committee hearings before it ever makes it to Brown’s desk. To top things off, the Southern California Air Quality District has repeatedly refused to close down the Aliso facility.
“The Air District doesn’t need to stall any longer because it has all the information it needs to make the right decision right now: shut down the Aliso facility once and for all. We appreciate the Board hearing from the public, but this decision needs to be made fast,” says Matt Pakucko of Save Porter Ranch, a group seeking to stop the methane leak. “[This is an] insult to all of us who have been displaced from our homes, and [to] our kids who have been forced out of their schools because the air is too toxic to breathe.”
So why is Brown essentially sitting this one out, even though the Porter Ranch leak is by far the worst environmental disaster California has experienced in years? The answer may have a lot to do with his cozy ties to the oil and gas industry. Brown has pocketed over $2,014,570.22 from the oil and gas cartel since his 2006 race for California Attorney General. The industry has also poured lavish amounts of cash, nearly $1.2 million, into the coffers of Brown’s favorite ballot initiatives, such as Prop 30, which passed a temporary tax in 2012 to fund state schools. It’s pay-to-play politics, and the California’s governor knows the game well.
Brown’s sister, Kathleen Brown, also enjoys quite a few intimate connections to California gas producers. She sits on the board of Sempra Energy, the company that owns SoCalGas, and is richly compensated for her role–$267,865 in 2013 and $188,380 in 2014. Additionally, Kathleen Brown is a partner at Manatt Phelps, a law firm that often represents the fracking industry. Jerry and Kathleen are close. She was a delegate to Brown’s 2014 trade and investment mission to Mexico and Gov. Brown recently appointed her husband Van Gordon Sauter to the California State Athletic Commission.
Sure, Jerry Brown proclaims to be a warrior in the fight against climate change, but his resumé is stained with industry cash. The mammoth methane leak in Porter Ranch is just one example of Brown’s bureaucratic negligence and there is certainly more where that came from. Want to stop another devastating disaster like the Porter Ranch methane leak? The first order of business is to clean house and get rid of Brown and the rest of his oil and gas cronies. Only then will California regulators and legislators begin to play hardball with California’s powerful fossil fuel polluters. Until then, don’t expect much accountability.
JOSHUA FRANK is managing editor of CounterPunch. His latest book, edited with Jeffrey St. Clair is Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion. He can be reached at brickburner@gmail.com. You can follow him on Twitter @brickburner.
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Date: February 04, 2016 at 18:54:48
From: Observer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: The Porter Ranch Gas Leak: Blame Gov. Jerry Brown |
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I am surprised that the State hasn't seen this as a regulatory
goldmine! Under AB32 all carbon-bearing fuels require payment for
carbon offsets and taxes. Given the sheer amount emitted to date,
that is quite a chunk of change Jerry can put in the State coffers.
So. Cal Gas going to screw the people of the state by passing the
costs to us, might as well enjoy it.
FWIW.
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9294 |
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Date: January 25, 2016 at 20:44:24
From: Polly,AZ, [DNS_Address]
Subject: I have a bad feeling ....... |
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that the well is going to explode when they try capping it off. It is going to take just one small spark and the whole thing is going and it may trigger some fault lines in the area. Every time that jerry Brown comes into CA politics big troubles brew.
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9295 |
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Date: January 26, 2016 at 04:57:37
From: grzbear/AZ, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: I have a bad feeling ....... |
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now I have that thought in my head...
:-\
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9292 |
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Date: January 25, 2016 at 16:20:25
From: trapper/austin, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: The Porter Ranch Gas Leak: Blame Gov. Jerry Brown |
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whats wrong with californians? when the ballot said jerry they must have been thinking garcia.
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9311 |
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Date: February 07, 2016 at 13:19:25
From: Kat, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: The Porter Ranch Gas Leak: Blame Gov. Jerry Brown |
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I have no idea what the people of CA were thinking when they put Brown in office AGAIN, much less the first time. But there you have it...there is a force behind this now to split CA into 2-states. I'm hoping it happens. The whole west coast is over the edge libs and just past Sac. it starts to become more conservative. We live 2-hrs N/W of Reno. They now have enough names to put it on the ballot this June. Time will tell all. Kat
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9312 |
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Date: February 07, 2016 at 17:30:22
From: mr bopp, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: The Porter Ranch Gas Leak: Blame Gov. Jerry Brown |
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well he did balance the budget and create a surplus for the first time in a long while...he's a politician but better than most...
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9318 |
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Date: February 12, 2016 at 09:25:54
From: Kat, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: The Porter Ranch Gas Leak: Blame Gov. Jerry Brown |
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What funds did he steal from to get the budget balance/surplus? its nothing but a numbers game. And the bottom number is all that matters to him and his crew. Just my opinion.
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9288 |
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Date: January 23, 2016 at 18:50:32
From: Polydactyl in N. Bay, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: The Porter Ranch Gas Leak: Blame Gov. Jerry Brown |
URL: Efforts to plug Porter Ranch-area gas leak worsened blowout risk, regulators say |
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Apparently they are having a helluva time capping this puppy due to the pressure underneath the well. I've got to wonder if the pressure came first or some deformation or nuclear material is heating up the oil field above Porter Ranch as Yoichi Shimatsu suggests in this vid:
A Massacre of The West Coast - Methane/Radon Leak & Fukushima 1/18/16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUuQfe0ouCE
They've tried SEVEN times to cap the wellhead since last October, with the recent blowout from an attempt using a mud slurry that created a gigantic hole around the wellhead and a new hole 20 feet north of the original wellhead hole. The pipe in SS25 well is suspended inside the sinkhole now, with cables. Can you imagine? So they are boring away from a distance trying to get under the wellhead to cap it below. To me it sounds like they have a major problem underneath the wellhead that even if they can reach under there, might destabilize the wellhead above. It sounds so much like the Macondo Well in it's unique problems that I have my doubts the end of the issue is going to be in February. Like Yoichi asks, you've got to wonder what is heating up the oil underneath to create methane.
Yoichi says there is bedrock further down that is why there is uranium and radium/radon coming up, that and some of the Santa Susanna rods that were lost may be deep underground. He said there is water and brine and oil on top of thee bedrock with the gas on top of that. I don't know how he knows that since the lawyers say they can't get any maps for the geology there- ;) He also says there's going to be a boatload of radioactive lead coming up too. All in all, given the Fuku fallout that's continuing (the webcam looks horrible today), the natural tendency of that area to trap bad air, and the radon/lead pouring out of this hole in the ground, there will be a ton of people with lung cancer. Consider too that everyone on the West Coast was BLASTED with Xenon and Argon from the Daiichi explosions in 2011, known to cause lung cancer in large amounts (especially held by abdomen and thigh fat in women, btw).
Story about attempts to plug this mess at top.
'That wellhead is the only control operators currently have on a well that features a 2 7/8-inch pipe surrounded by a 7-inch casing. Engineering schematics show that the pipe and casing pierce an underground reservoir of gas and that both were used to insert and remove gas from the storage cavern. For all but the top 990 feet, there was no larger pipe to contain a leak if either pipe ruptured.
The two-mile long depleted oil reserve that houses the gas is the largest natural gas storage field west of the Mississippi River. Each fall it is pumped with as much as 86 billion cubic feet of natural gas to run power plants and heat homes in Los Angeles during the winter.'
Also, I Jerry Brown's sisters investments in Sempra and Jerry's mellowing with age by turning into a gas and oil OLD BOY, too bad. Maybe it's a good thing to vote for younger candidates for higher level offices. Jerry and SIS may be protecting their Ass-ets but their deference to the utility company to make good on their investments and hangle any problems is really blind. Why anyone believes the energy companies' ability to handle most any gas or oil disasters in a timely and appropriate manner, given all the lackadaisical regulations and oversight, is beyond me!
Even if, work started sooner harder faster on the problem, the well itself may be a bust due to the unusual pressure underneath the wellhead. I've got to wonder what the 'ell is going on down there that we don't know. No one is talking yet about the geology of the area, or about the oil field up the hill, or about the nearby well patency, except Rense and Yoichi. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Here's the scary part about the massive amounts of radon coming out of the ground/well. Yoichi says you need only 0.07 becquerels to cause lung cancer. The particles really stick to your lungs, like most highly energetic daughter products of uranium. He thinks EVERYONE is going to get lung cancer in the San Fernando Valley. Yikes- :o
What we've done by allowing a small but significantly powerful group of moneyed elitists on the planet to run roughshod on everyone else, down to the last man, plant, animal, and rock is too much belief in alpha pack wolf daddies doing the right thing for all humans - not gonna happen, imo. Humans pass the buck pretty easy too when it comes to hard work figuring out what to do with problems in technology but the economic support of the energy financiers and a huge network of elite investors, I think, is going to truly boil all the frogs until they're dead. It's like they can't go back, can't move forward, as long as their own livelihood depends on the continuance of lethal technologies with cleanups too costly and troublesome to bother with (for monkeys on steroids that is). Even if everyone said let's do something else, shut down nuclear, clean up the gas and oil business, mother nature has other plans for us sometimes, yet the humans do nothing different to plan for disaster costs during development, change a problematic technology. or stop the resources from flowing out of the ground into their pockets.
Meanwhile, I'm hoping for a miracle, like maybe the ground will move again and seal the darn dinky pipe and hole. Due to the heat and pressure deep down though, it's possible the methane has been and will continue to spew out through other paths underground which I understand it does quite readily.
It's difficult to get the fine details on any of these type of events, so read with discernment. There are no cams on the site thanks to the company. I think there should be cams on the site, make the people involved feel the eyes upon them, while they step up to the plate and fix it!
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