Environmental groups, residents and elected officials will rally Tuesday, Aug. 22 for the closure of the Aliso Canyon storage facility.
California utility regulators recommended last month boosting the amount of natural gas that SoCalGas can inject into its Aliso Canyon storage facility to increase the storage level to avoid possible shortages during the winter.
The California Public Utilities Commission staff proposed increasing the Aliso Canyon gas storage volume from 41 billion cubic feet to 68.6 billion cubic feet or near 100% capacity. The CPUC officials will vote on Aug. 31. on the future of the field.
The proposal has been met with sharp criticism from residents, politicians and environmental groups. More than 50 activists have signed a letter, urging the CPUC to reject any petitions to increase the field and instead expedite the shutdown of the facility.
The 2015 gas leak, which went on for more than 100 days, released more than 100,000 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere over the communities in the San Fernando Valley. Since then, former Gov. Jerry Brown asked the CPUC to expedite the closure of the facility by 2027. Later Gov. Newsom endorsed that proposal.
Meanwhile, SoCalGas said in a statement the CPUC’s proposal to beef up natural gas storage levels ahead of winter “is a prudent step that would help advance our shared goal of maintaining energy reliability at just and reasonable rates.”
The proposal has met criticism from elected officials, including Sen. Henry Stern, Congressman Brad Sherman and Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, who called the proposal in a joint statement “an unwelcome surprise.”
“The impacted communities deserve reassurance this will not undercut the governor’s commitment to closure and the increase is, in fact, necessary. Such assurance is possible, alongside this decision, if the CPUC finalized their long delayed, but well-proposed decision to phase out Aliso responsibly. This proposal goes in the opposite…
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