Why the site of the largest methane leak in US history still hasn’t been shut down
Imperfect Paradise
LAist Studios
4.5 • 535 Ratings
🗓️ 31 October 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Regulations on gas storage facilities have been tightened since the detection of the Aliso Canyon leak, which started in 2015 and lasted nearly four months. But residents remain worried about long term health effects following the leak. LAist Climate and Environment Reporter Erin Stone discusses the 10-year anniversary of the disaster and what’s standing in the way of the facility being closed for good.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Support for LAIST comes from Car Pros Kia and the new 2027 Kia Telluride Hybrid, |
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| 0:16.8 | This LAISD podcast is supported by Cork and Fork Restaurant in Coachella Valley Valley with a farm-to-table menu of chef's favorites and small plates. |
| 0:25.0 | Weekly wine dinners feature winemakers and experts from all over the world. |
| 0:28.8 | Available for catering and private events. |
| 0:31.1 | Info at Cork and Fork Wine Bar.com. |
| 0:34.1 | You're listening to Imperfect Paradise. |
| 0:36.5 | I'm Nereida Moreno, filling in for host Antonia Serejido. |
| 0:41.3 | Imagine the smell of rotten eggs lingering in the air, not for a moment, but for weeks. |
| 0:47.7 | Mysterious nosebleeds, rashes, coughing, and pets dying unexpectedly. |
| 0:53.0 | That was the reality of the largest known gas leak in U.S. |
| 0:56.2 | history all unfolding at the Aliso Canyon storage facility in Los Angeles 10 years ago. |
| 1:02.9 | Natural gas from a leak in one of the facilities, more than 100 underground wells spewed into |
| 1:07.9 | the air for nearly four months, forcing thousands of people to evacuate |
| 1:11.9 | their homes. And early on, the calls to close Aliso Canyon began. |
| 1:17.5 | Shut it down. Shut it down. A small army of parents, kids, and other residents from |
| 1:24.8 | Porter Ranch hit the streets tonight, taking aim at SoCal Gas. |
| 1:28.3 | SoCal Gas is got to go. |
| 1:31.3 | It was a brutal wake-up call about the dangers of storing large amounts of natural gas near neighborhoods, |
| 1:37.3 | the potential effects on residents' health and consequences to the environment. |
| 1:41.3 | Ten years later, big questions remain. Why is Aliso Canyon still open? What's changed in the year since and what hasn't? |
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