Protect Playa Now

What is Natural Gas?

Natural gas is a fossil fuel composed almost entirely (80 – 95%) of methane, along with other gases including ethane, propane, butane and pentane. In order to assist in detecting leaks, an odorizer called mercaptan is added to the otherwise colorless and almost odorless natural gas. Such additives are irritants that can cause nausea in humans and also have more severe health effects with prolonged exposure to the skin, eyes, kidneys, lungs and liver. Radioactive isotopes are also produced during the extraction process.

The natural gas at Playa del Rey is brought in on pipelines from other states, much of it the result of fracking. Communities plagued by fracking experience well documented and severe environmental impacts. These harms fall disproportionately on frontline communities that are more likely to be rural, lower income and communities of color. After being shipped across state lines via leaky and dangerous gas pipelines, the natural gas arrives at Playa del Rey.

How does the Playa del Rey gas storage facility work?

When we ask someone on the street how they believe natural gas is stored, most will think about a propane tank, from their BBQ or the slightly larger propane tanks one encounters in rural areas. Even looking at a gas storage facility site, such as the one in Playa del Rey, one might think well there are just a few tanks, what’s the harm in that.

In reality natural gas is usually stored underground, in large storage reservoirs, including depleted oil reservoirs, aquifers and salt caverns. At the gas facility in Playa del Rey, old wells are reconfigured to inject natural gas into massive underground cavities that were left from earlier oil extraction. As more and more gas is injected, the greater the pressure grows. In a sense, these underground rock formations have become huge underground storage containers.

Looking at the following graphic from the Department of Conservation we can see that although the Playa del Rey facility might not seem that big, the underground formations stretch more than a 1000 acres.

Why does SoCalGas store gas at Playa del Rey?

Underground natural gas storage fields grew in popularity shortly after World War II. Gas had become a more popular energy source and these storage facilities allowed the gas companies keep a consistent production of gas to serve a fluctuating demand. As demand has shifted with the rise of clean energy, so has the role of storage fields.

Across the state, there are plans to shut down facilities far larger than the one at Playa del Rey, which only stores less than 1% of California’s natural gas reserves. But while many of these sites might not be necessary to maintain reliability, storage facilities like the one at Playa del Rey continue to make money as brokerage facilities – allowing SoCalGas to import gas from other states when the gas prices are low, and extract them again when prices go up again.

Despite its small size, and the dangers it poses to the community and to the environment – the facility at Playa del Rey remains valuable to SoCalGas as a means of manipulating the energy market and negotiating prime deals for itself and its corporate clients.

When pressure builds and the company needs to release gas, many toxic substances such as formaldehyde, benzene, hydrogen sulfide, and n-hexane, (a neurotoxin) are released. Cumulative exposures to chemicals could pose serious risks to the health of those living nearby. 

A blowout similar to the one in Aliso Canyon means deep losses to local businesses and decreased property values and could potentially lead to the closure of Los Angeles International Airport, the 4th busiest airport in world, stranding millions of passengers and costing millions of dollars to the local, state and national economy. 

There are nearly half a million Californians living within a five-mile radius from the storage facility and relocating most of them in addition to the stranded passengers would prove to be a logistical nightmare. There are also a number of hospitals and over 60 schools and universities within the 5 mile radius.

It is also a fact that SoCal Gas failed most of the residents near Porter Ranch after their blowout and there is no reason to believe that they would react any differently to a blowout in a denser area. The gas company is still refusing to pay for a long-term health study and fighting reimbursements for those who were displaced.  SoCal Gas has also fought against any liability for all the lost revenue suffered by businesses during and since the blowout.