At today’s meeting, the California Public Utilities Commission voted to extend the deadline to decide the future of the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility to December. The facility was the site of the biggest methane blowout in U.S. history in 2015. In the four months it took for it to be sealed, the facility discharged 100,000 tons of methane and an unknown amount of toxic chemicals into the surrounding communities.

This decision comes on the heels of over 150 climate and environmental justice organizations from across the country and within California signing onto a letter sent to Governor Newsom urging him to direct the CPUC to set a firm closure deadline. 

Impacted community members and advocates released the following statements:

Andrea Vega, Southern California Senior Organizer for Food & Water Watch said, “Governor Newsom’s California Public Utilities Commission has a golden opportunity to do right by the people of the San Fernando Valley whose lives were impacted by the blowout and move forward with a plan that closes Aliso Canyon by 2027. This facility has been hurting people and the surrounding environment for far too long already and we need Governor Newsom and the CPUC to hold firm to their promises, stand up to polluters like SoCalGas and shut it down.”

Patty Glueck, co-founder of the Aliso Moms Alliance, said, “The CPUC commissioners need to consider the health and safety risks that the use of the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility poses to almost two million residents of the San Fernando Valley. The UCLA health study team has already released a disturbing finding concerning low birth weights for infants born following the 2015 blowout. We know that the Santa Susana fault line runs through every well at the site and that the facility is located in a very high fire hazard severity zone. We call on Governor Newsom to honor his promise to close this hazardous facility no later than 2027 and request he direct the commissioners to vote for the proposal that will achieve this important goal.”

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