LOS ANGELES _ The Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility near Porter Ranch, which was shut down after a massive leak forced thousands to flee their homes, can reopen at a reduced capacity, state officials said Wednesday.
The announcement follows months of inspections of the facility's wells and the implementation of new safety protocols that officials said will protect the public and stave off an energy shortage in Southern California.
"This facility will be held to the most rigorous monitoring, inspection and safety requirements in the nation and will store only the minimum gas necessary to supply the Los Angeles area," Ken Harris, head of the state Department of Conservation's Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, said in a statement.
More than half of the wells have been taken out of operation, while those that remain are now equipped with real-time pressure monitors and must be inspected daily using infrared and other leak-detecting technology, officials said.
Southern California Gas Co., which operates the facility, has also prepared a risk management plan that identifies prevention and mitigation steps for potential hazards, officials said.
For more than four months starting in 2015, invisible gas leaked from a ruptured well, sickening many residents and effectively doubling the methane emissions rate of the entire Los Angeles Basin.
The leak, which was discovered in October of that year, released tons of methane into the air. Roughly 8,000 families in and around the northwest San Fernando Valley neighborhood were driven from their homes, with many complaining of health issues ranging from headaches to cancer.
The cause of the leak remains under investigation.
Now, the facility will operate at 28 percent of its maximum capacity, said Timothy Sullivan, executive director of the California Public Utilities Commission.
"What this does is it allows us to set the operating standards to be based on what ... amount of gas is critical for reliability in the South Coast Basin," Sullivan said in a call with reporters.
Some were critical of the decision to allow the facility to reopen, calling it a "premature" move.
"We think the numbers will show that Aliso Canyon simply isn't needed, and that our utility system operates safely and reliably, and consumers are protected without it. So why take the risk?" said Tim O'Connor, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund. "The state simply hasn't done its due diligence here."
In a statement Wednesday, the chair of the California Energy Commission, Robert Weismiller, said his staff is ready to work with necessary agencies to shut down the field within 10 years.
"I am confident that through sustained investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, electric storage technologies and other strategies, we can make this transition a reality," he wrote in a letter to the head of the Public Utilities Commission.
Sullivan said Weismiller's comments will have to be taken into account when considering the long-term plans for Aliso.
"It's another thing that would be considered in the course of our proceedings and something that will be given weight based on comments of the other parties and record of the case," Sullivan said.
A number of steps still have to be taken before the facility will be up and running again, albeit in a lesser capacity than before, Harris said.
The facility has undergone one of the "most rigorous inspections in the nation," he said.
"We have staff on the mountain almost every day. There are milestones they have to make and they have to report them to us," Harris said. "I'm confident the field is safe and can be opened safely."
