Page 57 - 072917

Groton Daily Independent
Saturday, July 29, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 029 ~ 57 of 67
“So what’s my power?” Wiley said. “Zero. I have zero power. Because in the 1950s the Legislature said, ‘Hands off. The PUC owns this problem.’”
County lawyer Skip Miller disagreed and said the county would le a last- minute request for a stay with the higher court.
“I think your honor is just dead-bang wrong,” Miller told the judge. “This is super important to the county of LA and the 30,000 people who live out there.”
The county’s appeal said it needed to block operations because it was noti ed the company planned to re- sume operations Saturday, and if that happened its legal bid would be moot.
Chris Gilbride, a SoCalGas spokes- man, said the utility has a few steps to complete before it can resume storinggasandwasn’tsurewhenit would restart.
The state allowed SoCalGas to re- sumelimitedoperationslastweek under stricter rules put into effect aftertheblowout.Fewerthanhalfthe 114 wells in the eld have passed tests that would allow them to be used.
In this Dec. 9, 2015, le pool photo, crews work on a relief well at the Aliso Canyon facility above the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles. A California judge denied a motion to halt the reopening of the massive natural gas storage facilityinLosAngelesCountythathasbeenof inesincea major blowout. Lawyers for the county had asked Superior Court Judge John Wiley to stop Southern California Gas Co.fromrestartingoperationsatAlisoCanyonbecauseof earthquake risks. The judge tentatively ruled against the countyonFriday,July28,2017,accordingtocourt lings made public before a hearing. He made the ruling nal during the hearing. (Dean Musgrove /Los Angeles Daily News via AP, Pool, File)
The county, however, said the state’s
review didn’t adequately address the
threat of a strong quake rumbling across the Santa Susana Mountains where the eld is located.
“That’s a recipe for disaster,” Miller said. “We think they’re jumping the gun.”
The county’s legal ling included emails and a declaration from a former SoCalGas manager who raised concerns several years ago about the danger. Jim Mansdorfer, who managed the company’s gas storage wells for years, said the Santa Susana fault could rupture all wells and release gas at 100 to 1,000 times the rate of the 2015 blowout.
In response, the state said the facility has likely undergone more scrutiny from a regulatory agency than any facility in the U.S. and the county didn’t have a valid claim but could appeal to regulators.
The county’s claims are based on “the vague possibility of a future, hypothetical catastrophic earth- quake,” the state said.
“Fearmongering and heated rhetoric aside, the county fails to allege a legal or factual basis upon which relief, let alone emergency relief, may be granted,” Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Rosenfeld said.
SoCalGas echoed the state’s arguments in a legal ling. In a letter to politicians and policymakers Mon- day, it said the county’s claims were “baseless and wrong.”
The company said it didn’t agree with Mansdorfer’s opinion, but it had forwarded his concerns to regu- lators.
While the company and the state have deemed the facility necessary for home heating and to fuel gas- red power plants, Southern California has avoided predictions of blackouts over the past year while the facility was closed.