California declares massive gas leak sealed after 16 weeks

LOS ANGELES -- A blowout at a natural gas well that spewed massive amounts of climate-changing methane for nearly four months and drove thousands of Los Angeles families from their homes has been permanently sealed, state officials announced Thursday.

The announcement certifying that the ruptured well had been plugged with cement brought a point of closure in the long-running drama that has disrupted life in the Porter Ranch community and drawn attention to a massive underground storage facility owned by Southern California Gas Co.

Jason Marshall of the state Department of Conservation said at a press conference that the Southern California Gas Co. well is no longer leaking.

The 60-year-old well was plugged with cement, and several tests showed no more gas was leaking. The gas company said it had controlled the leak for the first time last week.

The announcement starts the clock for thousands of families from Porter Ranch who relocated to temporary housing to get away from the noxious smell to finally return to their homes.

Those in in short-term housing - at hotels or staying with friends and relatives - will have eight days to return before the gas company stops reimbursements. Those who rented apartments and houses can stay through their leases as late as April 30.

"Now it's gonna be making sure that we get 16,000 people back in their homes, but they have to do safely to make sure the homes are clean, the community's clean, and this type of thing never happens again," said City Councilman Mitch Englander, according to CBS Los Angeles.

The leak was reported in October. Nearby residents complained of headaches, nausea, dizziness and nosebleeds. Initial efforts to cap the well were futile as it gushed gas uncontrollably at high pressure.

SoCalGas pleaded not guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor charges involving reporting of the leak to authorities and discharging contaminants into the air.

Investigations now will begin into how the well had managed to blow out and leak uncontrollably for so long. It was drilled for oil in 1953 and reused for natural gas storage in the 1970s.

Inspections also will be done on other aging wells in the same field, and regulators are looking into what would happen to energy supplies if the Aliso Canyon facility - the largest in the West for gas storage - does not reopen.

Some residents angry or sickened by the leak want to see the storage area permanently closed. The leak was reported in October, and nearby residents complained of headaches, nausea, dizziness and nosebleeds.

The gas company, a division of Sempra Energy, said it expects expenses of as much as $300 million for temporarily lodging 6,400 households, plugging the leak and the loss of gas that gushed for 16 weeks.

The figure does not include potential damages from at least 67 lawsuits, penalties from government agencies and expenses to mitigate pollution, which the company noted could be significant.

Natural gas is odorless and invisible, but an additive used to make it detectable to the human nose blanketed neighborhoods at times with a nauseating stench.

Public health officials blamed the odorant for many of the symptoms residents complained about, though they said they don't expect long-term illnesses from the gas, which is mostly methane, or trace elements such as cancer-causing benzene.

Air quality monitors set up during the leak will remain in place to make sure the air is clean to breathe.

Although the well has been declared sealed, Gov. Jerry Brown won't immediately lift an emergency declaration he made last month.

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