The Los Angeles Metropolis Council’s Guidelines, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee voted on Wednesday, March 17, to advance a decision calling for the closure of the Playa del Rey pure fuel storage facility.
The decision was launched by councilmembers Paul Koretz and Mike Bonin, whose district consists of the Playa del Rey website.
Positioned at 8141 Gulana Ave., the power is owned by Southern California Fuel Co. and sits a couple of miles away from Los Angeles Worldwide Airport, Loyola Marymount College, residential neighborhoods and high-tech enterprise campuses in Playa Vista.
A 2018 examine from the California Council on Science and Know-how confirmed the location “stands out as a facility with comparatively increased threat to well being and security than the opposite services in California.”
Whereas it has a comparatively small fuel storage capability, the power is offering round 1% of the overall pure fuel storage throughout California, and but “has a protracted historical past of loss-of-containment incidents and is situated close to a big inhabitants middle in a really excessive wildfire hazard zone,” in keeping with the examine. A excessive threat of tsunami and wildfire makes the power harmful to the well being and security of residents within the space, the examine stated.
However SoCalGas stated in a letter despatched to the committee that “every of our wells has undergone complete assessments and we use industry-leading expertise and practices in our operations, together with new metal inside tubing in each energetic nicely, distant, real-time strain monitoring system for all wells and day by day patrols and real-time steady methane displays at each storage injection/withdrawal nicely to observe for leaks.”
The location serves a number of services comparable to UCLA, Scattergood Electrical Producing Facility, LAX, Hyperion Water Therapy Facility, and the Port of LA.
“With out our storage fields, many noncore clients within the Los Angeles Basin, together with electrical mills and important services, would have been curtailed,” in keeping with the letter.
Nonetheless, the decision stated residents of communities adjoining to the location have “expressed considerations concerning the operations of the fuel facility and its impacts.” State companies have “did not justify continued operations of the Playa del Rey fuel facility within the face of the appreciable and documented dangers to the neighboring neighborhood and to an airport,” in keeping with the decision.
The catastrophic 2015 fuel leak at Aliso Canyon — which launched greater than 100,000 metric tons of methane into the air and compelled hundreds of residents to evacuate their houses — began about 30 miles from Playa del Rey. Nonetheless, it alarmed many residents and neighborhood leaders there, making them ponder whether an identical fuel leak might occur close to their houses.
Throughout Wednesday’s assembly, dozens of residents of each communities urged councilmembers to cross the decision.
Alexandra Nagy, California director for Meals & Water Watch, stated it’s “commendable that Councilmember Mike Bonin did his homework and investigated the issues with the Playa del Rey storage facility and listened to his constituents who’re calling for the closure of the Playa del Rey storage facility.”
She added, “that’s the kind of management that Aliso Canyon surrounding neighborhood wants from Councilmember John Lee and they aren’t getting it.”
In 2019, Lee introduced a resolution, calling state companies to “speed up a everlasting closure plan for the Aliso Canyon.”
A consultant for Lee’s workplace stated his decision has not been scheduled but however is anticipated to be heard quickly.
