“We are all painfully aware of the disastrous Aliso Canyon gas leak, which caused the biggest release of methane in U.S. history and affected thousands of Angelenos. Now, testing by the County’s Department of Public Health has detected low levels of foreign metals including barium, vanadium and manganese in dust inside Porter Ranch homes. These metals are known to cause some of the adverse symptoms reported by residents. The County identified the gas leak as the likely source.

This can never happen again. It appears that a broken well spewed these dangerous metals for months, in addition to enormous amounts of greenhouse gas. All contaminated homes must be fully cleaned up by SoCalGas, and we must not allow Aliso Canyon to reopen until the State completes its testing of all wells at the site. At the same time, we must redouble our efforts to reduce our dependency on natural gas and take this opportunity to move to a carbon-free future based on energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy.” – Mayor Eric Garcetti

https://www.lamayor.org/statement-mayor-garcetti-results-county-public-health-testing-porter-ranch