Porter Ranch: Shut it all down!

An early morning rally before the hearing frames the debate by calling on the Aliso Canyon gas facility to be shut down (#ShutItALLdown, #PorterRanchGasLeak) Credit: Sierra Club

Join us Saturday, Jan. 16, for a hearing to hold Southern California Gas Co. accountable for the gas leak in Porter Ranch. RSVP here.

WHAT: Public hearing on the Porter Ranch gas leak
WHEN: Saturday, January 16, community rally at 8 a.m., followed by the public hearing beginning at 9 a.m.
WHERE: Granada Hills Charter High School, 10535 Zelzah Avenue, Granada Hills, CA 91344

On Jan. 9, more than 1,000 residents of Porter Ranch, California and environmental activists packed a high school gymnasium in nearby Granada Hills, loudly calling on the local air district to shut down the dangerous Aliso Canyon gas storage facility, which has been spewing gas uncontrollably for over two months. The disaster, for which Governor Brown recently declared a state of emergency, has been compared to as an "invisible" version of the Deepwater Horizon spill.

The massive leak has forced the evacuation of more than 12,000 residents, with thousands more on waiting lists, as well as forced the relocation of two local elementary schools, and led to more than 500 calls to the air district from residents reporting symptoms such as bloody noses, nausea and skin rashes. The leaking storage facility has also sent over 80,000 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere - making this site the largest emitter of methane in the state, and a major climate disrupter. (See Michael Brune’s blog for more information.)

The Sierra Club contingent. Credit: Sierra Club

The shutdown option

The Jan. 9 hearing was to consider an Order of Abatement that would have established a number of mitigation measures for the company, Southern California Gas (a Sempra subsidiary), to comply with to lessen the impacts of the disaster. However the back-door agreement between the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the company didn’t go far enough and didn’t meet the residents’ demand to shut the high-risk facility down.

After seven hours of testimony from hundreds of residents, elected officials, and community organizations, along with Angeles Chapter members and Sierra Club Chief of Staff Jesse Simons, in an amazing turn of events, the Hearing Board, clearly swayed by the crowd, ordered a new Order of Abatement be written up that would include the option of shutting the facility down. It also continued the hearing to the following Saturday, Jan. 16, when a final decision will be made.

This shift to consider shutting the facility down would have been considered unthinkable a month ago, and is a major testament to the work of local advocacy groups, Food and Water Watch and Save Porter Ranch in particular, as well as the powerful turnout by Angeles Chapter Sierra Club and National Sierra Club contributed to on Saturday.

Sierra Club's role

Led by Hop Hopkins and our national organizing team in the LA office, in collaboration with the Angeles Chapter and our national Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign (with great support from MyGen), at least 60 Sierra Club members and supporters were mobilized within 48 hours of the hearing, and our organizers and national staff jumped in to play a critical role in pulling together a pre-hearing rally, providing food and beverages throughout the day, wrangling press, and elevating this issue nationally on social media.

More than 1,000 residents and activists packed the hearing. Credit: Sierra Club

Sierra Club is particularly proud of its team in LA for the way in which they entered the Porter Ranch community, having had limited engagement on the issue before last week, making sure to echo the demands of local groups and local residents leading the response to this disaster, building solid relationships, and really demonstrating how the Sierra Club can be not just a responsible ally, but really elevate what we all consider to be a major moment in the movement to keep dirty fuels in the ground and promote 100% renewable energy in California. 

Sierra Club has a lot more to do to stop this continuing disaster, shut down this facility for good, and use it as an opportunity to highlight other toxic dirty fuels sites in the area, as well as solutions at the local, statewide and national level, but the momentum is now behind us.