http://enenews.com/experts-la-gas-leak-worst-case-emission-beyond-told-ive-never-release-magnitude-before-toxic-plume-flowing-directly-communities-very-little-dilution-video
Experts: Magnitude of LA gas leak “way beyond what any of us have ever been told” — “It’s a worst case emission” — “I’ve never seen a release of this magnitude” — It’s flowing directly into towns with “very little dilution… a worst case scenario” — “Very dangerous condition… be very, very concerned” (VIDEO)
Published: January 25th, 2016 at 12:48 am ET
By ENENews
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Aliso Canyon Gas Leak Town Hall, published Jan 11, 2016 (emphasis added):
• Bob Bowcock, environmental scientist (at 18:00 in): “We’re starting to hear about the largest natural gas well leak in the U.S… The State of California and Southern California Gas Company say it’s leaking somewhere between 45,000 and 50,000 kilograms [99,000 and 110,000 pounds] per hour… We’ve done actual field measurements [and] it can be as much as three times greater than what’s being reported.”
• Erin Brockovich (at 31:05 in): “Every person I’ve talked to — thousands of people — are suffering rashes, dizziness, shakiness, they feel like they’re in a fog, nosebleeds, massive headaches… Reports of animals losing their hair, animals vomiting, animals with diarrhea — people actually relocate to hotels to find their animals have passed… You are actually the guinea pig in this situation… As we’re now learning that the magnitude of this is way beyond what any of us have ever been told, and reaches beyond where we have come in and know that there’s been dangers. We need to learn that that’s been happening.
• Camille Sears, meteorologist (at 41:45 in): “SoCalGas has said that things aren’t so bad because the leak is 1,200 feet above the elevation of the community, and that gas is lighter than air. Well, that’s not really the whole story… That gas is going downhill… [Infrared videos] show the plume just running down the hill like water… [which then] goes right into the communities. It’s very little dilution… At night, from midnight to 6:00 in the morning, 90% of the time the winds are coming from that direction [from the gas leak to the communities]. I doubled checked this, because it seems like a phenomenal amount of time that the winds are blowing from the gas leak to the community… It’s a very unfortunate situation that the leak is located where it is… The releases are probably two to three times greater than what the California Air Research Board has been reporting… It’s becoming quite clear that the State is underestimating the amount of gas that’s leaking. I’ve been doing this kind of analysis for 35 years. I’ve done thousands of them since I started doing this in 1980. I’ve never seen a release of this magnitude before… I feel really bad… to report this. It’s not only a worst case emission, it’s the great magnitude of emissions coming out, but it’s also sort of a worst case meteorological scenario that these releases happened to blow from the gas leak down in to the community at night 90 percent of the time. As we’ve seen, those gas emissions tend to flow downhill like water and go right into the communities.”
• Robin Greenberg, attorney (at 1:01:00 in): “Pets are really being affected… Time and again someone sends me photographs of their pet and have these horrible sores.”
• Bowcock (at 1:43:45 in): “This is a very dangerous condition, and it’s something that you all should be very, very concerned with… That’s a pretty substantial area and everyone in that area needs to be concerned about it… Veterinarians are very concerned about it… because the vets are actually seeing a lot of really, really sick animals… It is impacting the animals much, much more — believe me.”
Watch the town hall meeting here
Published: January 25th, 2016 at 12:48 am ET
By ENENews