A $3.5 million claim has been filed by hundreds of Los Angeles homeowners over one of the worst methane leak in the history of the country. Affected residents blamed the government, including California Governor Jerry Brown, for their failure to act over the incident.
The expected claimant to the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage field incident is more than 3,000 individuals. The incident started from a blown injection well that ejected more than 97,000 tons of methane into the air as per Reuters.
According to the Los Angeles Daily News, many residents have complained of experiencing headaches, nosebleeds, and other related symptoms. There have been 7,000 homes and two schools that were relocated at the height of the incident.
Representative Rex Parris said the state's Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board has received around 689 complaints. These complaints accused government officials of negligence which is the contributing factor of the blowout.
Meanwhile, KTLA5 reports that another leak has upset the local activists. Jennifer Milbauer of the Save Porter Ranch group joined the call to completely shut down the Aliso Canyon. She added that the methane site is decaying and depreciating and has no business being situated next to a community.
The recent and latest claim accused Governor Jerry Brown of failing to uphold the regulatory measures to avoid the said methane leak. The governnor has prevented the state enforcement of federally mandated data requirements for granting injection well permits that would basically serve as a guideline which could have prevented the Aliso Canyon Disaster.
The Emergency Service Office of Governor Brown, however, said that they will continue to exercise their full regulatory and oversight role to ensure that the party responsible for the Aliso gas leak will be held responsible under the law. The California Department of Conservation which is the parent agency of the state's oil and gas regulators is yet to give a statement regarding the issue.
