LOS ANGELES — California state officials on Wednesday cleared the way for resumption of natural gas pumping into an underground storage facility where a blowout spewed methane for nearly four months, sickening Los Angeles residents and driving thousands of families from their homes. “I’m confident that the field is safe and can be reopened safely,” said Ken Harris, the state’s oil and gas supervisor and head of DOGGR. The vast field will be restricted to about 28 per cent of its massive capacity, storing up to 23.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas, officials said. Aliso Canyon, nestled in the mountains above the San Fernando Valley, is the biggest natural storage facility west of the Mississippi River. Southern California Gas Co., which operates the facility, had asked in November for permission to resume pumping natural gas into the field.

Source: National Post July 19, 2017 22:30 UTC