Porter Ranch gas leak may lead to blackouts over 14 days this summer

As the fate of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility hangs in the balance, state officials heightened the stakes Tuesday.

Utility regulators aounced that Southe Califoia could face 14 days of rolling blackouts this summer if the north San Feando Valley facility remains depleted.

The reverberations continue from the largest natural gas leak in U.S. history, which spewed nearly 100 million metric tons of methane until it was plugged in February. Residents from San Beardino to Santa Monica could risk power outages and higher electric rates if a detailed conservation plan isn’t successful, utility executives waed. Their analysis comes as a federal taskforce studies the safety of natural gas storage facilities, and whether some regions need more storage to guard against such supply constraints.

“It is a very plausible scenario and Edison is deeply conceed about outages,” said Colin Cushnie, Southe Califoia Edison vice president of engineering procurement and management. “We’re going to have to balance gas across the system.”

Natural gas from Aliso Canyon bolsters the region’s power plants when air conditioning strains the system.

State agencies that studied the impact of the partial shutdown of the Aliso Canyon gas storage field near Los Angeles proposed a series of measures to prevent blackouts, but concluded they “will reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of gas shortages this summer that are large enough to cause electricity interruptions for the region’s residents and businesses.”

The report anticipated a typical summer without other supply problems. If it’s hotter than usual, or other problems crop up, the risk of blackouts would increase.

The report also said up to 18 days of outages could occur in the winter, though further study is needed.

The Southe Califoia Gas Co. facility is the largest natural gas storage area in the West. It provides gas for home and business heating in winter and helps power electric plants in summer when energy demand spikes for air conditioning and other uses.

The facility has not fully operated since a massive leak was discovered in October.

State officials are investigating the cause of the leak and have ordered the gas company to test all 114 wells before it can resume storing gas deep underground.

The field still has some gas in it and one of the plans to prevent power outages calls for using that gas, as well as seeking more energy efficiency and asking residents to conserve.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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