Porter Ranch gas leak: Utility, regulatory failures led to biggest US gas leak
Source: Associated Press
Utility, regulatory failures led to biggest US gas leak
By BRIAN MELLEY
May 17, 2019
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A blowout at a Los Angeles natural gas well in 2015 that led to the largest-known release of methane in U.S. history was the result of a corroded pipe casing, safety failures by a utility and inadequate regulations, according to an investigation report released Friday.
Southern California Gas Co. failed to investigate previous well failures at the Aliso Canyon storage field and didn’t adequately assess its aging wells for disaster potential before the Oct. 23, 2015, blowout, the report released by the California Public Utilities Commission said.
The disaster led to stricter state regulations and improved policies that would have addressed most of the causes, the report found.
Robert Bea, an engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said the report shows the blowout was a “predictable and preventable disaster” and likened it to oil spills, a dam spillway collapse and deadly wildfires he said were due in part to failures by regulators.
“Collectively, we seem to be using ‘reactive risk mismanagement’: Patch and Pray, Watch it Fail, Fix it Fast, Return to Business As Usual As Soon As Possible,” Bea said. “Several of my colleagues who live in other countries have called this approach as ‘stuck in stupid.’”
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Read more: https://apnews.com/67394656883a43c799e8298bd75e7865
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Related: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliso_Canyon_gas_leak