California residents face summer blackouts after natural gas leak

A months-long natural gas leak at a Southern California storage facility means local residents could see up to 14 days of scheduled blackouts this summer, officials announced this week.

A four-month leak at Southern California Power’s Porter Ranch storage facility has diminished local natural gas reserves, the Los Angeles Times reports, and with the facility still shut down, local power plants could occasionally be without the fuel they need to run this summer. 

{mosads}The leak, which began in October and ended in February, left the facility at one-fifth its natural gas capacity, and new shipments of gas have been prohibited until it undergoes more testing. Seventeen power plant in the Los Angeles region rely on the facility for natural gas. 

Four energy agencies warned residents of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties about the threat of blackouts on Tuesday. Utilities, they said, could go block-by-block, with power shut down for a short period of time each. 

“These pipelines also cannot transport gas fast enough to meet the hour-by-hour or changing demands of power plants during the summer when electricity demand peaks,” Mark Rothleder, the vice president of the California Independent System Operator, said. 

Four energy agencies have written a plan with 18 recommendations designed to reduce blackouts, including asking customers to conserve gas by using less hot water and electricity.

Southern California Gas Co. sealed the leak at the Aliso Canyon in February, but not before tens of thousands of metric tons of gas seeped from it. 

The company isn’t allowed to inject new natural gas into its stores there until it completes safety tests at its 114 other wells. According to the LA Times, none of the wells have yet passed the tests.