Relocated SoCal Gas customers to get 8 days to return to Porter Ranch homes after leak is fixed
PORTER RANCH, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer has reached an agreement with the Southern California Gas Company to give Porter Ranch residents more time to return home once the gas leak has been stopped.
Relocated residents will now have up to eight days and seven nights to move back to their homes once the leak at the Aliso Canyon gas facility is capped. The previous plan had allowed relocated residents 48 hours to move back home.
MORE: New video allegedly shows gas still spewing in Porter Ranch
For residents who relocated to housing with leases, SoCal Gas will pay the rent and associated costs through the agreed term of each lease.
For all residents who relocated to apartments or single-family homes, SoCal Gas will reimburse moving expenses up to $500.
The utility company has been paying to relocate nearly 5,700 households from the Porter Ranch area to other lodgings.
SoCal Gas also said in a statement that it will reimburse "reasonable mileage expenses" through the rest of the school year for residents who re-enrolled their children in schools outside the Porter Ranch area.
The leak from a deep well at an underground gas storage facility was detected in October.
Officials with the utility company expect to stop the leak by the end of February, if not sooner. An official from Gov. Jerry Brown's office said the leak could be capped as early as sometime this week.
