A natural gas escape in Aliso Canyon , California , has been spew out 50,000 kg ( 110,000 pounds ) of gas every hour for more than two months , and officials say it could take another three to four months to bring the situation under control condition .
The leak first occurred on October 23 , when the casing of a gas memory board well operated by Southern California ( SoCal ) Gas failed . Strangely , the causal agency of this failure is not known , and attempts to stop the stream of accelerator by pumping liquid directly into the well in ordering to seal the rupture have been unsuccessful .
In a desperate endeavour to turn back the spillage , SoCal Gas has drafted in a number of applied scientist – include several expert who helped to contain the 2010BP oil spillin the Gulf of Mexico – to devise a scheme to fix the well . However , a representative for the company toldMotherboardthat this is unlikely to be achieved before late February at the earliest .
The reason for this delay is that the team has been left with no option but to drill all the style down to the base of the well – which sits more than 2,500 beat ( 8,000 foundation ) underground – so as to site and fix the reservoir of the leak . Furthermore , the initial shaft will have to be drilled far from the well itself to debar accidentally ignite the gas and causing an burst .
The effects of the leak are being monitored by the Environmental Defense Fund ( EDF ) , which is tracking the volume of accelerator pedal being released inreal - time , focus peculiarly on the levels of methane being emitted into the atmosphere . Methane is the major constituent of natural gas and , agree to the EDF , is a “ potent light - full term climate forcer , with over 80 times the warming top executive of carbon dioxide in the first 20 twelvemonth after it is released . ”
To spotlight the catastrophic extent of the leakage , the EDF has released a television of the gas emerging from the footing and spewing into the atmosphere . This was created using limited infrared cameras , since born gas is unseeable to the au naturel center .
Once airborne , methaneabsorbs the Sun ’s heatand warm up the air . It can also stimulate a telephone number of wellness issues , and has led to account of headaches and external respiration difficulties from local resident . Two schooling have also been temporarily relocated for the upcoming semester , in an attack to protect youngsters from the effect of the gas .
The Aliso Canyon outflow is now the largest exclusive origin of methane emission in California , with EDF ’s Timothy O’Connor tellingMashablethat it is causing the same amount of damage as eight or nine ember - fired power plants .
