Porter Ranch residents demand answers to ongoing gas leak

GRANADA HILLS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Angry residents rallied outside Granada Hills Charter High School on Saturday, where a public hearing took place concerning the months-long gas leak near Porter Ranch.

The meeting was a continuation of a hearing from Jan. 9 with South Coast Air Quality Management District board members. Many residents requested the closure of the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility.

A few dozen people gathered outside the high school with signs and chants to urge Gov. Jerry Brown to shut down the facility.

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The massive gas leak, which started at the facility in late October, prompted the relocation of 2,800 households near the area. Many have become ill from the smell, causing complaints of headaches, nausea and other ailments.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District Hearing Board made no decision Jan. 9 regarding what steps would be taken next.

The hearing came just as state officials were sent by the governor to brief the public on the leak on Friday, where SoCal Gas said it underestimated the number of times airborne levels of benzene, a chemical known to cause cancer, spiked over the last three months. Many people at the meeting said few questions were answered.

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The board was expected to consider an abatement order that would require specific actions by the SoCal Gas Company, including to stop the leak as soon as possible and to capture and dispose of the gas that is leaking. The hearing was extended to 9 a.m. Wednesday in Diamond Bar.

The natural gas leak has become the largest leak in U.S. history and is the worst environmental disaster in the country since the 2010 BP oil spill.