![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Screen-Shot-2017-10-17-at-8.26.39-AM.png\")
<\/a>Protesters gather in front of the Central Civil West Courthouse before a hearing into Los Angeles County\u2019s request for a temporary restraining order to prevent a premature resumption of service for the Aliso Canyon SoCalGas storage facility. Los Angeles,CA 7\/28\/2017 Photo by John McCoy\/Los Angeles Daily News (SCNG)<\/p><\/div>\n
By SUSAN ABRAM | Daily News<\/p>\n
A state appeals court issued an order late Friday that blocks the Southern California Gas Co. from restarting injections of natural gas at the Aliso Canyon storage facility near Porter Ranch, just hours after a Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied the county\u2019s request to stop operations.<\/p>\n
Saying he had no authority over state regulators, L.A. County Superior Court Judge John Wiley ruled Friday afternoon that he can\u2019t stop natural gas injections from resuming into wells in Aliso Canyon.<\/p>\n
Wiley made the ruling inside a packed hearing room at a courthouse in the Westlake area of Los Angeles. He said he had to deny the county\u2019s request for an injunction that would prevent the Southern California Gas Co. from restarting operations because of two state statues that barred him from issuing a restraining order.<\/p>\n
He also said the county\u2019s case for halting injections was unconvincing. The county says there is enough natural gas already in the wells to cover \u201cworst case gas reliability scenario.\u201d But Wiley was unswayed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen winter comes and Los Angeles needs gas for heating, the County proposes to use Aliso Canyon only for emergency purposes,\u201d Wiley noted in his ruling. \u201cThe County \u2026 does not, however, set out the details of this worst case scenario. How hard will the coming winter be? How cold will it get and for how long?\u201d<\/p>\n
The first ruling came as a shock and disappointment to Porter Ranch residents, who for 17 months have held rallies and petition drives and have called on Gov. Jerry Brown to step in and authorize shutting down the Aliso Canyon natural gas field above their homes. That\u2019s where in 2015, a massive natural gas leak above their community sickened thousands of people, forcing them to temporarily leave their homes in the northwestern San Fernando Valley. The reported 100,000 metric tons of methane that spewed from one of 115 aged wells over more than three months in Aliso Canyon was considered unprecedented. The leak was capped in February 2016, and 60 percent of the wells were taken offline, but the root cause of the leak continues to be investigated, state regulators said.<\/p>\n
An attorney for the county, Skip Miller, said he was told that Southern California Gas Co. could restart gas injections as soon as today. But after the judge\u2019s ruling, Miller was able to file a motion with the state Court of Appeals by the end of the day, and his request for an emergency stay was granted Friday evening. State regulators and SoCalGas have until this evening to appeal. The higher court will then decide if it will grant the county additional injunctive relief.<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s legal wrangling came a little more than a week after the state Department of Conservation\u2019s Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources and the California Public Utilities Commission said that about a third, or 42, of the wells are safe for Southern California Gas Co. to resume gas injections.<\/p>\n
In response to Wiley\u2019s ruling, SoCalGas spokesman Chris Gilbride said injections will continue as soon as the company completes all safety measures. A status report on the SoCalGas website stated all safety measures were completed as of Friday, but Gilbride said a small aircraft was still conducting flyovers over the wells, to measure methane levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen injection operations begin, monitoring and reporting activities will continue to meet compliance requirements,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cIn support of continued safety, Aliso Canyon will be held to what state regulators have called the most rigorous monitoring, inspection and safety requirements in the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
But county officials said state regulators made the recommendation despite a warning by a former SoCalGas manager that potential \u201ccatastrophic loss of life\u201d could happen in the event of a major earthquake, according to court documents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe County\u2019s first priority is to protect the health and safety of the residents of Porter Ranch and the northwest San Fernando Valley,\u201d said L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger in statement in response to Wiley\u2019s ruling. \u201cI believe that allowing Aliso Canyon to begin reinjecting puts the residents in a potentially unsafe environment.<\/p>\n
Local leaders, activists and residents have said a root cause of the leak has never been established and that a seismic study and risk assessment\/emergency response plan for Aliso Canyon still aren\u2019t finished. There also have been almost 950 complaints of nosebleeds, headaches and nausea made to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health since March 2016.<\/p>\n
Matt Pakucko, co-founder of the group Save Porter Ranch, told reporters outside the courtroom he was disappointed with Wiley\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sick to my stomach,\u201d he said. \u201cThe judge can\u2019t read. The county needs to step up and file its appeal and go to the Supreme Court. That\u2019s what they need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s exactly what happened later in the day. But the stay could be overturned this weekend pending any other appeals by the state or SoCalGas.<\/p>\n