SoCalGas shuts off natural gas service to Rancho Palos Verdes due to "worsening land movement"
SoCalGas announced their plans to cut off natural gas service to the Portuguese Bend community of Rancho Palos Verdes starting early next week.
The discontinuation is slated for Monday at 9 a.m., leaving nearly 130 homes in the area without the common utility.
"Due to worsening land movement, SoCalGas has determined it is unsafe to continue providing natural gas service in your community," said a statement from the company released on Saturday. "We apologize for this unexpected disruption of service. This dynamic situation requires we take immediate action to protect public safety."
They claim that despite a considerable amount of measures taken to fix the situation, the constantly moving land has created a threat to public safety.
Some of that work included relocating more than 600 feet of pipeline to respond to the land movement, installing flexible joint lines and a new isolation valve that allows them to "quickly shut off the community" in case of an emergency and performing accelerated leak inspections intervals.
"Unfortunately, the neighborhood continues to experience significant new land movement damaging roads, homes, and further threatening the safety of SoCalGas' infrastructure," the statement continued.
The company claims that the situation has placed "significant strain" on their infrastructure since late last year, when the devastating string of land movement started to have a considerable impact on the area.
In the time since, several homes and roads have been destroyed or red-tagged by building safety officials, including the famous Wayfarers Chapel, or Glass Church.
The ever-changing situation received an emergency declaration from Gov. Gavin Newsom in early 2024.
SoCalGas officials say that the closure could go into effect even earlier if the situation undergoes a dramatic change.
"Please do not attempt to restore service or to connect alternative fuels like CNG or propane to your natural gas meter," the statement said. "Doing so is unsafe."
Rancho Palos Verdes city officials released their own statement, claiming that they are working with the company to try and delay the looming shutoffs, if it's safe to do so. They are also working with the California Governor's Office of Emergency and the LA County Office of Emergency Management.
"Residents can choose to stay in their homes without gas service. No evacuation warnings or orders are in place at this time," their statement said. "However, in the coming days, the City will begin property inspections through voluntary compliance in the interest of public safety."
A slew of people living the in the area, which impacts 20 streets, are up in arms over the decision, which comes at the tail end of a long list of issues they've had with their living situation in the last year.
"Now, all the sudden, it's a emergency that they have to deal with in three days? I don't get that," said Gordon Leon, who recently had his own natural gas service shut off six weeks ago in a similar incident. "All of this has been known for some time. It's not like yesterday it all the sudden moved and made a dangerous situation."
They also say that work is underway to secure temporary housing accommodations and individual financial assistance from local, state and federal agencies.
"This is a big problem. I understand the risks, but I believe residents needed more time and better outreach to prepare for their gas to be disconnected," said LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn on Saturday. "The County's Department of Public Works and our Office of Emergency Management stand ready to assist these residents in anyway we can."
