Senator Stern Statement on New Report on Health Impacts from Aliso Canyon Well Control Activities

SACRAMENTO — Yesterday, the California Public Utilities Commission released a report on the health impacts from well-control activities after the Aliso Canyon gas leak. The report, “Potential Chemical Hazards Associated with the Well SS-25 Well-Control Materials at the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility Near Porter Ranch, California,” was prepared by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). 

 “This report is inadequate.  We know the community continues to suffer ongoing health problems and while those may not be attributable to the fluid injected into the well during the blowout, there are all kinds of dangerous chemicals that burped out of Aliso during the winter of 2015 which continue to haunt our community in a cloud of sickness and uncertainty,” Senator Stern said. “It’s time for a real public health study. And real chemical disclosure. The state of California should tolerate nothing less.”

The report is not a conclusive review of the chemicals released during the blowout at the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility on October 23, 2015. Instead, this report narrowly focuses on the chemicals used during well-control, or shut down, activities from October 24, 2015 until the well was sealed on February 18, 2016.

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Henry Stern is Chair of the Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments, and the first millennial elected to the Senate. Senator Stern also serves on Energy, Utilities and Communications, Environmental Quality, Judiciary, and Natural Resources and Water. He represents nearly 1 million residents of the 27th District living in east Ventura County and northwest Los Angeles County. http://sd27.senate.ca.gov.