Seemorerocks: The methane leak at Porter Ranch, California

Doctors Publicly Call for Residents to EVACUATE Los Angeles, Chatsworth, Northridge and Granada Hills, CA over Toxic Fumes from Well Leak

Super station 65,

5 January, 2016

Doctors in Los Angeles are urging people exposed to a gas leak from a broken natural gas well, to EVACUATE THE AREA to stop breathing toxic fumes.

According to health professionals, hundreds of citizens are suffering severe effects from breathing methane and volatile chemical carbons in gases being released from underground from a cracked natural gas well on the Porter Ranch in the Aliso CCanyon outside of Los Angeles. Symptoms range from nose bleeds, to swollen throats, to difficulty breathing, to respiratory distress, then failure, then cardiac arrest. Doctors are now publicly telling citizens "get out."

Officials confirm this is the largest natural gas leak ever recorded and that it is jeopardizing health and causing evacuations for thousands of Southern California residents… Methane is estimated to be leaking out of the Aliso Canyon site at a rate of about 62 million standard cubic feet, per day… it’s potentially devastating on a planetary scale… This is what the cracked gas well looks like; two large holes in the ground:

Erin Brockovich, Dec 21, 2015: “The enormity of the Aliso Canyon gas leak cannot be overstated… and it shows no sign of stopping… According to tests conducted in November by the California Air Resources Board, the leak is spewing 50,000 kilograms of gas per hour — the equivalent to the strength of a volcanic eruption.” Here's what it looks like in infra-red:

The Express, Dec 30, 2015: Thousands suffer nose bleeds and vomiting during ‘worst environmental disaster since BP’ — An invisibleenvironmental disaster which has been compared to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico BP oil spill has forced thousands of people from their homes… with nosebleeds, headaches and nausea, after millions of kilograms of invisible methane was released into the air… Residents claim the gas, which has drifted into surrounding neighborhoods, is making them suffer from nausea, nosebleeds, and headaches

Voice of America: Residents have suffered symptoms that include “nausea, abdominal discomfort, dizziness, light-headedness, some shortness of breath … even some nosebleeds,” said medical toxicologist Cyrus Rangan of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health… scientists are monitoring levels of benzene, a known cancer-causing agent… “We want to be sure that we are monitoring every single day because we’ve got a lot of ever-changing environmental conditions up there… so we’re not exactly sure what tomorrow’s benzene levels are going to be unless we check for it,” he said.

NPR, Dec 24, 2015: The carcinogen benzene was found well above expected levels in one government air sample… the sheer size of the release has been shocking… [Tim O’Connor, oil & gas specialist] “This is so far above and beyond what I’ve ever seen or what most people… in the oil and gas space have ever seen.”

Gizmodo, Dec 30, 2015: The leak has taken a serious toll on Porter Ranch residents, who for weeks have reported headaches, nausea, dizziness, and other symptoms… “People are having very real responses, based on their own sensitivity,” [Cyrus Rangan, director of the Toxics Epidemiology Program at LA County’s Department of Public Health] told Gizmodo. “In terms of acute chemical exposures, this is a really, really big deal.”

The Independent, Dec 29, 2015: Infrared video reveals huge ‘uncontained’ Methane gas leak in Los Angeles… Tim O’Connor, California climate director for the Environmental Defense Fund [said] “It is one of the biggest leaks we’ve ever seen reported.” “It is coming out with force, inincredible volumes. And it is absolutely uncontained,” O’Connor said… Company President Dennis V. Arriola wrote… “the leak does not pose an imminent threat to public safety.”

However, Rick Parker disagrees. “It’s the most massive gas blowout, gas well blowout, in a populated area in history. This has never happened before in a populated area. And so when they tell you that “It’s not damaging”, “It’s just temporary” — whatever nonsense they’re feeding you — understand, nobody knows. It’s never happened before… This can be deadly. Make sure you’re getting treated… Nobody knows what breathing this stuff constantly is doing to [the children]… He said.

The gas company says, “This is just the smell you’re reacting to, it’s just temporary, it’s not a problem, it’s not serious” — these people aren’t stupid. How could somebody possibly say that? We have children whose noses are bleeding every day, we have people who suffer from chronic headaches [and] are nauseous every single day. How does that not become a serious issue? Why are they saying something nobody here believes?… They’re trying to convince everybody that it’s all in our heads. It’s a trick.” he continued.

Mitchell Englander, Los Angeles City Councilman (45:30) — “I will tell you this goes well beyond Porter Ranch. We’ve had complaints from as far as Chatsworth, Northridge, and Granada Hills. Apparently this plume of toxic chemicals and whatever it might be doesn’t know zip codes. So it does keep moving into different locations and different places… This is the equivalent of the BP oil spill on land, in a populated community… We’ve declared a national disaster here.”

Dr. Richard Kang, pediatrician (52:45) — “Unfortunately the only real way to get away from the symptoms is, unfortunately, you have to relocate – you have to get away from the environment.”

r. Brooks Michaels, physician (54:00) — “The defense is capitalizing on the comment that it’s all in your head. Let me clarify a little bit – it’s in your head, it’s in your ears, it’s in your nose, it’s in your throat, and it’s in your chest… We’re seeing asthma increases, we’re seeing people who are using inhalers more often, primarily a lot of respiratory problems… If you have a chance to leave, if you’re able to leave… if you have a chance to relocate, do it now. I’m telling you, it’s really critical. It’s what we don’t know, more than what we do know… A lot of information will be coming out soon about what the chemical carbons are that are so volatile… It’s unbelievable when you see the quantity that’s there that is coming out… What I see in the field is the effect of that. Primarily pulmonary, people will bleed from their nose. It’s not of course just a pediatric problem, it affects all of us.”

Dr. David Smith, veterinarian (57:00) — “I have seen dozens of cases of pets being ill or becoming ill and I do believe it’s related to the exposure to the gas… I’ve seen dogs, cats, birds, pocket pets… The primary symptoms I’ve seen are gastrointestinal vomiting primarily. One dog actually had a torsion — I think is related to it — where the stomach flips on itself, not a good thing. We’ve seen quite a few respiratory problems… the only good solution is treat symptoms and remove pets form the exposure as much as possible, especially the chronic exposure… There are not things you should be inhaling… We have seen dermatologic issues as well, some very unusual bacterial infections in dogs. Interestingly enough, one client had a dog with a very unusual bacterial infection on its face. And the client developed almost the exact same kind of symptoms very soon after that, actually 2 people in the house did… Their physician, thinks it’s related, and so I tend to think these correlations are real.”

Jan 3, 2016: “I’ve been nauseous. I’ve felt lethargic,” said his mother Christine Soderlund. “My kids have had nosebleeds, they’ve had headaches… It’s surreal… We are a living science experiment I believe.”

Los Angeles Times, Jan 5, 2016 (emphasis added): Utility is installing screens to contain oily mist at leaking well near Porter Ranch… The structures under construction on the west side of the well head are designed to capture airborne droplets of a brine solution that “may have contained trace amounts of oil naturally occurring within the leaking well’s reservoir,” said Trisha Muse, a spokeswoman for SoCal Gas… Now, a mixture of brine water and oil is rising up into the gas company’s natural gas storage zone, then traveling up the well and into the air. As a result, local residents are finding droplets of dark brown residue on their homes, vehicles, fish ponds and gardens… [The company] acknowledged that some residents had asked about “dark brown spots on their property.” “We sampled it and, according to our retained toxicologist and medical expert,” the company said, “the residue contained heavier hydrocarbons (similar to motor oil) but does not pose a health risk.”… On Monday, plaintiffs’ attorneys sent a letter to state regulatory officials [and] demanded that state regulators “explain what is happening with the petroleum now surfacing.”… “There is a complete lack of information in the well files,” their letter says, “to show where the gas and petroleum migrates underground and the risk for creating sink holes and geysers.”

Los Angeles Daily News, Jan 5, 2015: [A]n oily mist… has been surfacing… The seepage is the result of changing dynamics deep underground… “They (the demister pads) are necessary because as the reservoir pressure declines, fluids (oil and water) encroach into the reservoir and are then carried to surface with the gas.

BBC, Jan 8, 2016: Residents… point out cars, outdoor furniture and houses which have been marked with brown, oily spots… Tim O’Connor, a lawyer with the Environmental Defense Fund, has called it “an environmental and public health catastrophe,” said . “In terms of timelines this is going to surpass the gulf oil problem by a mile.”

New York Times, Jan 6, 2016: Gov. Jerry Brown, faced with mounting public anger and no end in sight to the leak, declared a state of emergency… Mitchell Englander, the Los Angeles city councilman who represents Porter Ranch [said] “This is one of the most disruptive, catastrophic environmental events that I’ve seen. It’s a truly chaotic crisis.”… Many who have stayed have taken to wearing surgical masks when they garden to keep out the rotten-egg smell and the oily mist that sometimes leaves brown residue on their cars… Dennis Arriola, the president of Southern California Gas Company [said] that experts had “never seen anything like this.”

Newsweek, Jan 7, 2016: SoCalGas and public officials have turned [Porter Ranch's Matt Pakucko] and his fellow residents into “guinea pigs.”… [Sally Benson, who runs an energy storage lab at Stanford University] shares a worry of many in Porter Ranch as they deal with the mundanities of the leak: that the gas plume will somehow become ignited, leading to [an] explosion… “They’re really fortunate that this one hasn’t caught fire,” Benson says… [The FAA] has imposed a no-fly zone above Porter Ranch “out of concerns that fumes from the gas leak could be ignited from the air.” Schwecke, the SoCalGas vice president, says workers near the relief well are taking every precaution, not using their cellphones and working with brass hammers, which don’t spark… [David Balen, a local businessman on the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council] showed me photographs of a white dust that had collected on concrete surfaces around his property; an expert was coming to test the substance, which Balen thought was something toxic.

BBC, Jan 7, 2016: The governor of California has declared a state of emergency in a suburb of Los Angeles over the leaking of methane gas… the company is installing large mesh screens around the leak site to try and hinder the oily mist from spraying down on the community.

Bloomberg, Jan 5, 2016: The sulfurous scent of a natural-gas leak hangs in the air as mail carriers wearing gas masks make rounds… “This is the biggest community and environmental disaster I’ve ever seen, bar none,” said Mitchell Englander, who has represented Porter Ranch on the Los Angeles City Council since 2011. “Life there is not on hold — it’s on the edge and it’s on the brink of pandemonium.”

See also: Doctors: “Very unusual” infections being reported around massive gas blowout in LA… “If you’re able to leave do it now, I’m telling you it’s really critical” — Official: Plume is spreading far away, it’s a national disaster — TV: “We’re a living science experiment” (VIDEO)

Watch footage of the leak from Reuters here

Officials and gas company agree on plan to burn off some methane afflicting Porter Ranch

8 January, 2016

Air quality regulators and Southern California Gas Co. have agreed on a plan to capture and incinerate at least some natural gas from a leaking well that has sickened and displaced thousands of residents of Porter Ranch, according to a legal document filed this week.

Under the plan, the gas company would deploy pollution control equipment as early as next week to burn off both methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, and foul-smelling odorants that are added to the gas for leak detection.

The steps are being proposed to satisfy an administrative order that the South Coast Air Quality Management District is seeking to reduce emissions and odors from the company's Aliso Canyon underground storage facility in the Santa Susana Mountains. For more than two months, a damaged well there has spewed more than 1,000 tons of planet-warming methane a day into the air and sent foul odors into nearby communities.

State of Emergency now underway for L.A. gas blowout

Oil begins raining down on homes
Official: “It’s on the brink of pandemonium”
Many worry plume will ignite, cause explosion
Concern over geysers, sinkholes being created
Company: Experts have “never seen anything like this” (VIDEO)

ENE News,

8 January, 2016

Watch footage of the leak from Reuters here

A postwar nuclear lab with a nuclear generating plant and its core is buried less than two miles from the Porter Ranch methane leak. Some reports Jan. 9 that the radiation levels in that area are up.

LA's Nuclear Secret: Part 1

Tucked away in the hills above the San Fernando and Simi valleys was a 2,800-acre laboratory with a mission that was a mystery to the thousands of people who lived in its shadow

NBC,

22 September, 2015

The U.S. government secretly allowed radiation from a damaged reactor to be released into air over the San Fernando and Simi valleys in the wake of a major nuclear meltdown in Southern California more than 50 years ago — fallout that nearby residents contend continues to cause serious health consequences and, in some cases, death.

Those are the findings of a yearlong NBC4 I-Team investigation into "Area Four," which is part of the once-secret Santa Susana Field Lab. Founded in 1947 to test experimental nuclear reactors and rocket systems, the research facility was built in the hills above the two valleys. In 1959, Area Four was the site of one of the worst nuclear accidents in U.S. history. But the federal government still hasn't told the public that radiation was released into the atmosphere as a result of the partial nuclear meltdown.

Now, whistleblowers interviewed on camera by NBC4 have recounted how during and after that accident they were ordered to release dangerous radioactive gases into the air above Los Angeles and Ventura counties, often under cover of night, and how their bosses swore them to secrecy.

In addition, the I-Team reviewed over 15,000 pages of studies and government documents, and interviewed other insiders, uncovering that for years starting in 1959, workers at Area Four were routinely instructed to release radioactive materials into the air above neighboring communities, through the exhaust stacks of nuclear reactors, open doors, and by burning radioactive waste.

How It Bean

On July 13, 1959, the day of the meltdown, John Pace was working as a reactor operator for Atomics International at Area Four's largest reactor, under the watch of the U.S. government's Atomic Energy Commission.

"Nobody knows the truth of what actually happened," Pace told the I-Team.

In fact, Pace said, the meltdown was verging on a major radioactive explosion.

"The radiation in that building got so high, it went clear off the scale," he said.

To prevent a potentially devastating explosion, one that in hindsight the 76-year-old Pace believes would have been "just like Chernobyl," he and other workers were instructed to open the exhaust stacks and release massive amounts of radiation into the sky.

"This was very dangerous radioactive material," he said. "It went straight out into the atmosphere and went straight to Simi Valley, to Chatsworth, to Canoga Park."

Pace and his co-workers frantically tried to repair the damaged reactor. Instead, he said they realized, their efforts were only generating more radioactive gas. So for weeks, often in the dark of night, Pace and other workers were ordered to open the large door in the reactor building and vent the radiation into the air.

"It was getting out towards the public," he said. "The public would be bombarded by it."

Pace said he and his co-workers knew they were venting dangerous radiation over populated areas, but they were following orders.

"They felt terrible that it had to be done," he said. "They had to let it out over their own families."

Area Four workers "were sworn to secrecy that they would not tell anyone what they had done," Pace explained.

He remembered his boss getting right in his face and saying, "You will not say a word. Not one word."

That was more than five decades ago, but radioactive contamination didn't just vanish. It remains in the soil and water of Area Four and in some areas off-site, according to state and federal records obtained by the I-Team. And, evidence suggests that the fallout could be linked to illnesses, including cancer, among residents living nearby.

Arline Mathews lived with her family in Chatsworth, downwind of Area Four during some of the radiation releases. Her middle son, Bobby, was a champion runner on the Chatsworth High School track team for three years, running to the Santa Susana Field Lab and back to school every day. Bobby died of glioblastoma, a rare brain cancer often linked to radiation exposure. Mathews said there is no known family history of cancer and she blames the radiation from Area Four for her son's illness.

"He was exposed to the chemical hazardous waste and radioactivity up there," Mathews said. "There's no getting over the loss of son."

The Government Cover-up

Six weeks after the meltdown, the Atomic Energy Commission issued a press release saying that there had been a minor "fuel element failure" at Area Four's largest reactor in July. But they said there had been "no release of radioactive materials" to the environment.

"What they had written in that report is not even close to what actually happened," Pace said. "To see our government talk that way and lie about those things that happened, it was very disappointing."

In 1979, NBC4 first broke the story that there was a partial meltdown at Area Four's largest reactor, called the Sodium Reactor Experiment. But at the time, the U.S. government was still saying no radiation was released into the air over LA.

But during its current yearlong investigation, the I-Team found a NASA report that confirmed "the 1959 meltdown... led to a release of radioactive contaminants."

For years, NASA used part of the site for rocket testing and research.

More Radioactive Releases

After filing a Freedom of Information request, the I-Team obtained more than 200 pages of government interviews with former Santa Susana workers. One of those workers, Dan Parks, was a health physicist at Area Four in the 1960s.

In the early 60s, Parks said, he often witnessed workers releasing radiation into the sky through the exhaust stacks of at least three of Area Four's ten nuclear reactors.

"They would vent it to the atmosphere," he said. "The release was done with the flick of a switch."

Radioactive Waste Up in Smoke

Parks said he often witnessed workers releasing radioactive smoke into the air when they disposed of barrels of radioactive waste from Area Four's 10 nuclear reactors.

"We were all workers," he said. "Just taking orders."

Workers would often take those barrels of waste to a pond called "the burn pits" and proceed to shoot the barrels with a high-powered rifle causing an explosion.

The radioactive smoke would drift into the air over nearby suburbs and toward a summer camp for children.

"It was a volatile explosion, beyond belief," Parks said.

Whatever direction the wind was blowing, the radioactive smoke would travel that way.

"If the wind was blowing to the Valley, it would blow it in the Valley," he said.

Ralph Powell, who worked as a security officer at Area Four in the mid-60s, recalled being blanketed by that radioactive smoke.

"I saw clouds of smoke that was engulfing my friends, that are dying now," Powell said.

Powell believes it wasn't just his friends who suffered the consequences. He fears he may have exposed his own family to radiation, tracking it home on his clothes and car.

While Powell was working at Area Four, his son Michael was diagnosed with leukemia — a cancer linked to radiation exposure — and died at age 11.

"I suspect it caused the death of my son," he said. "I've never gotten that out of my mind."

Toxic Chemical Contamination

In addition to the radiation, dozens of toxic chemicals, including TCE and Perchlorate, were also released into the air and dumped on the soil and into ground and surface water from thousands of rocket tests conducted at the Santa Susana Field lab from the 1950s to 80s. The tests were conducted by NASA, and by Rocketdyne, a government aerospace contractor.

According to a federally funded study obtained by the I-Team, "emissions associated with rocket engine testing" could have been inhaled by residents of "West Hills, Bell Canyon, Dayton Canyon, Simi Valley, Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Woodland Hills, and Hidden Hills."

Contamination Moves into Neighborhoods

Radiation released at Area Four continues to contaminate the soil and water of the Santa Susana Field Lab.

In 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency completed a $40 million soil test of the site and found 423 hot spots — places contaminated with high levels of man-made radiation.

Other studies and government documents obtained by the I-Team show that radiation has moved off-site, and has been found in the ground and water in suburbs to the south, northeast and northwest of the Field Lab.

"Radiation doesn't know any boundaries," said Dr. Robert Dodge, a national board member of the Nobel Prize-winning nonprofit Physicians For Social Responsibility, which studies the health effects of radiation.

Dodge, who has reviewed numerous government and academic studies about the contamination at Santa Susana, said he believes the contamination has spread far beyond the facility's borders.

"If the wind is blowing and carrying radiation from Santa Susana, it doesn't stop because there's a fence," he said.

One of the places radiation has been found, in a 1995 study overseen by the U.S. EPA, was the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley. The Institute is a nationally-known center of Jewish learning, and the home to Camp Alonim, a beloved summer sleepaway camp that has hosted some 30,000 children.

In December 1995, The Brandeis-Bardin Institute filed a federal lawsuit against the present and past owners of the Santa Susana Field Lab, alleging that toxic chemicals and radiation from the field lab "have subsequently seeped into and come to be located in the soil and groundwater" of Brandeis "is injurious to the environment" and "will cause great and irreparable injury."

Brandeis settled the lawsuit in a confidential agreement in 1997.

A spokesman for the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, Rabbi Jay Strear, told NBC4 that the groundwater and soil is "tested routinely," and the results have shown the "the site is safe."

The I-Team asked Brandeis-Bardin to provide NBC4 with those test results showing the site is safe and free of hazardous substances. The Institute refused, and in an email said "we are not in a position to devote the required staff time to respond to your more detailed inquiries, nor do we see the necessity for doing so."

A government scientist who has studied the contamination at Santa Susana told the I-Team he thinks there's a continued threat of radiation and toxic chemicals flowing from the field lab to places like Brandeis-Bardin, via groundwater and airborne dust.

Clusters of Cancer

Researchers inside and out of government have contended that the radiation and toxic chemicals from Santa Susana might have caused many cancer cases.

"The radiation that was released in 1959 and thereafter from Santa Susana is still a danger today," Dr.Dodge said. "There is absolutely a link between radiation and cancer."

The I-Team tracked down dozens of people diagnosed with cancer and other illnesses who grew up in the shadow of Santa Susana — in Canoga Park, West Hills, Chatsworth, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley. Many of them believe their cancers were caused by radiation and chemicals from the field lab.

Kathryn Seltzer Carlson, 56, and her sisters, Judy and Jennifer, all grew up in Canoga Park around the time of the nuclear meltdown and for years after, and all have battled cancer.

"I played in the water, I swam in the water, I drank the water" that ran off the Santa Susana Field Lab, said Carlson, who finished treatment for ovarian cancer earlier this year and is now undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma. "I've had, I don't know how many cancers."

Bonnie Klea, a former Santa Susana employee who has lived in West Hills since the 60s, also battled bladder cancer, which is frequently linked to radiation exposure.

"Every single house on my street had cancer," Klea said.

A 2007 Centers for Disease Control study found that people living within two miles of the Santa Susana site had a 60 percent higher rate of some cancers.

"There's some provocative evidence," said Dr. Hal Morgenstern, an epidemiologist who oversaw the study. "It's like circumstantial evidence, suggesting there's a link" between the contamination from Santa Susana and the higher cancer rates.

Silence From the Government

For more than two months, the I-Team asked to speak with someone from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the federal agency that's responsible for all nuclear testing, to ask why workers were ordered to release dangerous radiation over Los Angeles, why the DOE has never publicly admitted this happened, and what it plans to do to help get the site cleaned up.

The DOE emailed the I-Team, "We will not have anyone available for this segment."

So the I-Team showed up at a public meeting this month about Santa Susana and asked the DOE's project manager for the site, Jon Jones, to speak with us. He walked away and wouldn't speak.

Will the Contamination Ever Be Cleaned Up?

Community residents, many stricken with cancer and other radiation-related illnesses, have been fighting for years to get the government and the private owners of the Santa Susana Field Lab to clean up the contamination that remains on the site.

But efforts in the state legislature and state agencies that oversee toxic sites have, so far, stalled.

But residents, with the support of some lawmakers, continue to fight for a full cleanup.

"People are continuing to breathe that (radiation) in and to die," Chatsworth resident Arline Mathews said.

"See that this is done immediately, before more lives are lost."

Seemorerocks

Monday, 11 January 2016

The methane leak at Porter Ranch, California

State of Emergency now underway for L.A. gas blowout

Oil begins raining down on homes

Official: “It’s on the brink of pandemonium”

Many worry plume will ignite, cause explosion

Concern over geysers, sinkholes being created

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Monday, 11 January 2016

The methane leak at Porter Ranch, California

State of Emergency now underway for L.A. gas blowout

Oil begins raining down on homes

Official: “It’s on the brink of pandemonium”

Many worry plume will ignite, cause explosion

Concern over geysers, sinkholes being created

No comments:

Post a Comment