LOS ANGELES, May 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Los
Angeles County Superior Court provided a clear pathway and timeline
for those who remain relocated to return home and rejoin their
communities. Under the ruling, SoCalGas will provide and pay for
professional home cleaning for relocated residents who request it.
The cleaning will be done according to the Department of Public
Health's proposed protocol.
"Serving the community has always been a priority for SoCalGas
and based on the data released by the Los Angeles County Department
of Public Health (DPH), and confirmed by our experts, the homes are
safe today," said SoCalGas Vice President of Customer Services
Gillian Wright. "We will comply
with the Court's order and continue to support the remaining
relocated residents as they transition back to their homes."
The County of Los Angeles and
SoCalGas had agreed the relocation program injunction should
end. Judge John Shepard Wiley,
Jr. decreed the injunction will end as safely and as soon as
possible, under the terms of his court order.
Relocated residents currently in hotels or staying with Friends
and Family have until Wednesday, May 25 at 5:00 p.m. to accept cleaning. All
other relocated residents have until Friday,
May 27 at 5:00 p.m. to accept
cleaning. Relocated residents will have 48 hours to exit the
relocation program after their house has been cleaned.
Families with long term leases may stay in their rentals until the
end of their lease. Relocated residents who affirmatively decline
cleaning, or who do not respond with their selection by the
required deadline, will have 48 hours to exit the program. The goal
is to complete all cleaning by June
7, 2016. Relocated residents who choose cleaning may
decline cleaning steps that can damage walls, carpet or
upholstery.
In addition to normal operating hours, SoCalGas will open the
Community Resource Center this coming Sunday and Monday, days it
has recently been closed, to address the needs of residents who may
have questions about the termination of the relocation program.
Hours on Sunday will be 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Monday hours will be 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Over the past several months, our dedicated employees, many of
whom live in Porter Ranch, have
served more than 30,000 resident visits at our Community Resource
Center, provided temporary housing for 8,000 families, processed
more than 41,000 reimbursements totaling $78
million, installed 38,000 air filtration systems, and
cleaned public parks, playgrounds, and schools.
We continue to work quickly to process reimbursements, and we
will deliver on our promise to mitigate the actual natural gas
released from the leak.
About Southern California Gas Co: Southern California Gas
Co. (SoCalGas) has been delivering clean, safe and reliable natural
gas to its customers for more than 145 years. It is the nation's
largest natural gas distribution utility, providing service to 21.6
million consumers connected through 5.9 million meters in more than
500 communities. The company's service territory encompasses
approximately 20,000 square miles throughout central and
Southern California, from
Visalia to the Mexican border.
SoCalGas is a regulated subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), a
Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Diego.
This press release contains statements that are not
historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These statements can be identified by words like "believes,"
"expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects,"
"forecasts," "contemplates," "intends," "assumes," "depends,"
"should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may,"
"potential," "possible," "proposed," "target," "pursue," "goals,"
"outlook," "maintain" or similar expressions, or discussions of
guidance, strategies, plans, goals, opportunities, projections,
initiatives, objectives or intentions. Forward-looking statements
are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks,
uncertainties and assumptions. Future results may differ materially
from those expressed in the forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon various
assumptions involving judgments with respect to the future and
other risks, including, among others: local, regional, and national
economic, competitive, political, legislative, legal, and
regulatory conditions, decisions, and developments; actions and the
timing of actions, including general rate case decisions, new
regulations, issuances of permits to construct, operate and
maintain facilities and equipment and to use land, franchise
agreements, and licenses for operation, by the California Public
Utilities Commission, California State Legislature, U.S. Department
of Energy, California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal
Resources, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, California Energy
Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, California Air Resources
Board, South Coast Air Quality Management District, cities and
counties, and other regulatory, governmental and environmental
bodies in the United States; the
timing and success of business development efforts and
construction, maintenance and capital projects, including risks in
obtaining, maintaining or extending permits, licenses, certificates
and other authorizations on a timely basis and risks in obtaining
adequate and competitive financing for such projects; the
resolution of civil and criminal litigation and regulatory
investigations; deviations from regulatory precedent or practice
that result in a reallocation of benefits or burdens among
shareholders and ratepayers and delays in regulatory agency
authorization to recover costs in rates from customers; the
availability of electric power and natural gas, and natural gas
pipeline and storage capacity, including disruptions caused by
failures in the North American transmission grid, moratoriums on
the ability to withdraw natural gas from or inject natural gas into
storage facilities, pipeline explosions and equipment failures;
energy markets; the timing and extent of changes and volatility in
commodity prices; the impact on the value of our natural gas
storage assets from low natural gas prices, low volatility of
natural gas prices and the inability to procure favorable long-term
contracts for natural gas storage services; risks that our partners
or counterparties will be unable (due to liquidity issues,
bankruptcy or otherwise) or unwilling to fulfill their contractual
commitments; capital markets conditions, including the availability
of credit and the liquidity of our investments, and inflation and
interest rates; cybersecurity threats to the energy grid, natural
gas storage and pipeline infrastructure, the information and
systems used to operate our businesses and the confidentiality of
our proprietary information and the personal information of our
customers and employees; terrorist attacks that threaten system
operations and critical infrastructure; wars; weather conditions,
natural disasters, catastrophic accidents, equipment failures and
other events that may disrupt our operations, damage our facilities
and systems, cause the release of greenhouse gasses and harmful
emissions, and subject us to third-party liability for property
damage or personal injuries, fines and penalties, some of which may
not be covered by insurance or may be disputed by insurers; the
inability or determination not to enter into long-term supply and
sales agreements or long-term firm capacity agreements due to
insufficient market interest, unattractive pricing or other
factors; and other uncertainties, all of which are difficult to
predict and many of which are beyond our control.
These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the
reports that the company has filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. These reports are available through the EDGAR system
free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov.
Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof,
and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these
forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Co.