Warnings of Southern California blackouts called misleading
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California energy officials intent on reopening a major natural gas storage field idled by the country's worst-ever methane leak have resorted to scare tactics in raising the prospect of looming power outages in Los Angeles, utility critics said on Tuesday.
Three state regulatory bodies and the city Water and Power Department warned last week the region faced up to 14 days of blackouts this summer as gas-fired power plants go without supplies normally furnished by the crippled Aliso Canyon field when electricity demand peaks.
Southern California Gas Co, the division of San Diego-based utility giant Sempra Energy that owns Aliso Canyon, remains barred from refilling the underground storage reserve until the facility is deemed safe to operate again.
But consumer and environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch, which has joined local activists demanding Aliso Canyon be permanently closed, issued a report challenging the state's conclusions. It said forecasts of potential blackouts were based on inflated estimates of the region's power demands and other "unsubstantiated or flawed data."
The rebuttal study found, for example, that the state's analysis discounted the ability of three smaller SoCal Gas storage fields to make up for lost supplies from Aliso Canyon.
"We are disappointed that state agencies published bad data that supports the reopening of the gas field, which only serves to benefit SoCal Gas at public expense," said the group's California director, Adam Snow.
Other critics of state regulators they see as being too cozy with the energy companies have suggested last week's analysis by the California Public Utilities Commission and three other agencies was really a SoCal Gas report in disguise.
Those agencies should be called before the legislature "to explain these misrepresentations under oath," said Jamie Court, president of the group Consumer Watchdog.
The four agencies issued a joint statement defending their analysis as designed to identify short-term risks to reliable energy service and prepare for contingencies, "not to justify the continued operation of Aliso Canyon."
Aliso Canyon has been closed since a pipeline ruptured there in October, spewing more than 97,000 tons of methane into the air over four months.
The stench of odorized gas fumes drove thousands of nearby residents from their homes, many complaining of headaches, respiratory problems, dizziness and nosebleeds.
The leak was finally plugged in mid-February. But residents of some 5,000 homes remain in temporary housing, unwilling to return over fears of lingering contamination and health effects, according to Food & Water Watch.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Peter Cooney)
