LOS ANGELES, July 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Earlier
today SoCalGas petitioned the L.A. County Superior Court for a Writ
of Mandate to annul the Department of Public Health's
(Public Health) Cleaning Directive because it is not necessary to
address any public health hazard. According to Public Health there
is no health hazard. The company issued the following
statement:
"When the leaking well at the Aliso Canyon storage facility was
permanently sealed five months ago, one of the key
commitments SoCalGas made to the community was to help those who
chose to relocate to return to their homes, and we have delivered
on that promise.
"Since the well has been sealed, thousands of samples have been
taken by regulatory agencies, including the Department of Public
Health, of the indoor and outdoor air, and of soil and dust in
selected homes in the Porter Ranch
community. Public Health's own testing results have detected no
substance above state or federal levels of concern.
"Nevertheless, in conjunction with the completion of the
relocation program, SoCalGas has cleaned more than 1,700 homes of
formerly relocated residents following Public Health's interior
cleaning protocol. Relocated residents have returned home, the
final relocation reimbursements are being processed, and the
community is returning to normal.
"The facts are clear. Public health officials, including
Department of Public Health, have repeatedly stated that their data
do not suggest that the conditions in the greater Porter Ranch area present a risk to public
health, and that the community is safe.
"Despite this overwhelming evidence, and without any supporting
facts, Public Health issued a Directive to SoCalGas that could
require the company to clean nearly 35,000 homes--virtually every
home in the Porter Ranch community
and beyond, even though people having been living in these homes
throughout. There has been no data provided to support this
unnecessary demand from a health and safety perspective. It will
only cause additional disruption to a community that wants to get
back to normal as soon as possible.
"It is important to remember that relocation was voluntary for
residents. No evacuation was ever ordered and at no time did Public
Health identify a condition resulting from the leak that presented
a long term health risk to residents. Moreover, since the well was
sealed, Public Health has not identified a health hazard or
condition that would require people to leave their homes, or that
would preclude their returning. According to Public Health,
the homes of those who returned and those who never left were and
are safe.
"SoCalGas remains committed to working with all of the
regulators and with the community. However, it is not
acceptable to require unnecessary work that is neither justified
nor supported. Once again, the facts are clear: The
Department of Public Health's own data indicate that the homes are
safe.
"We look forward to resolving this issue quickly and to working
with the community to move forward."
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.