I had written about it here and here. Now this from Inhabitat:
Damage report reveals LA methane leak is one of the worst disasters in US history
A week after the ruptured natural gas well in Aliso Canyon was finally declared sealed, we have a full account of the environmental damage — and it doesn’t look good. A new paper published in the journal Science declared it to be one of the largest environmental disasters in US history. In total, 97,100 metric tons of methane were released into the atmosphere over the course of 112 days, equal to the greenhouse gas emissions of over half a million cars.
A bit more - measurements made from airplanes high above the site:
The levels of airborne methane were so high that the Conley’s team assumed there was something wrong with their instruments — the background concentration of methane in the air is typically about 2 parts per million, but the aircraft registered concentrations as high as 50-60 ppm. It wasn’t until researchers tested levels on the ground using a different instrument that they realized the frightening readings were accurate.
But of course, this was just a one-off fluke - never happen again in a million years:
Perhaps the most worrying finding is this: the Aliso Canyon leak is unlikely to be an isolated incident. The leak in question began due to an old, 1950s-era pipe that had never been upgraded to incorporate a safety valve. It was an entirely avoidable failure, and one that could happen again — the Aliso Canyon facility alone contains 115 other wells which could potentially fail, and there are around 400 other underground natural gas storage facilities across the US, many of which also contain old, deteriorating pipes. If we want to prevent another disastrous gas leak like the one that happened in California, the federal government is going to have to step up and start regulating the industry.
The Federal Government is going to have to step up and start regulating the industry. Don't these words just send chills up your spine. Who better to regulate the industry than the flawless EPA. Yikes!
The Science article is behind a paywall. Here is a link to the abstract: Methane emissions from the 2015 Aliso Canyon blowout in Los Angeles, CA
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