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PORTER RANCH / ALISO CANYON — Community members reported hearing a loud noise and smelling gas this morning near the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility, the site of the 2015–16 leak widely described as the largest gas blowout from an underground storage facility in U.S. history.
Advocacy groups and local residents say the incident underscores what they view as a continuing public safety and public health threat posed by Aliso Canyon—particularly as state regulators prepare to review the facility’s future operating limits later this year.
“Today Was the Warning”
In statements circulated by community organizations, Patty Glueck of the Aliso Moms Alliance argued the facility remains unsafe and said residents near the site have “good reason to want it closed down,” pointing to the Dec. 27 Castaic pipeline break as part of a broader pattern of infrastructure failures.
Matt Pakucko, President and Co-Founder of Save Porter Ranch, said the current situation feels like a repeat of the pre-2015 warnings: “They documented the warning, but they ignored it… Today was the warning.”
Andrea Vega of Food & Water Watch criticized state leadership and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), arguing that today’s reports reinforce the need to shut the facility down.
What’s Confirmed vs. What’s Not (Yet)
As of publication, the claims of a “leak” are based on community reports of odor and sound and statements from advocacy groups. CityWatchLA has not independently confirmed the specific cause, volume, or chemical composition of any release described in the statements.
That distinction matters because Aliso Canyon sits at the intersection of:
- Community trust, strained since 2015–16;
- Regulatory oversight, split across agencies; and
- Energy reliability, often cited as a reason the facility continues operating.
If SoCalGas or regulators issue an incident report, readers should look for: time of event, location, operational status, measured methane/VOC levels (if any), and whether emergency notifications were triggered.
Why This Incident Lands Hard: Aliso’s Long Tail
Aliso Canyon is not just a neighborhood issue; it’s a statewide policy fault line. The 2015–16 blowout displaced thousands of residents and created lingering health and quality-of-life concerns.
A major thread in today’s statements is the UCLA-led Aliso Canyon Disaster Health Research Study, funded following government action after the blowout. UCLA describes the project as assessing short- and long-term health impacts from the 2015–16 disaster.
UCLA researchers have also published work on longer-term psychological and community effects, describing the blowout as an “invisible disaster” with lasting mental health dimensions.
The Policy Clock: CPUC Biennial Assessment and a Recommended Cut
The immediate regulatory backdrop is the CPUC Energy Division’s 2025 Aliso Canyon Biennial Assessment Report. In that report, staff recommend reducing the facility’s maximum inventory by 10 Bcf (to 58.6 Bcf) based on multiple winter reliability analyses.
The CPUC has an Aliso Canyon information hub that outlines the investigation and notes prior inventory decisions, reflecting how often the state toggles between safety concerns and reliability/price concerns.
Adding complexity: SoCalGas has pushed back in filings arguing that reducing the maximum inventory is “not prudent” at this time—setting up a regulatory fight over what level of risk and cost is acceptable.
The Castaic Connection: Recent Pipeline Break Raises Fresh Questions
The statements also tie today’s reports to the Dec. 27, 2025 Castaic pipeline break, which SoCalGas acknowledged, and which prompted emergency response and freeway disruption according to local reporting.
For residents, the throughline is straightforward: “If the system is aging or stressed in one place, where else is it vulnerable?”
What Readers Should Watch Next
If you live near Porter Ranch, Granada Hills, Chatsworth, or the broader North Valley area, these are the next practical signals to track:
- Official incident confirmation (SoCalGas / regulators / first responders): what happened, where, and how it was resolved.
- Notification protocols: whether residents were notified, when, and through what system.
- CPUC inventory decision: whether the Commission adopts the recommended 10 Bcf reduction, delays, or rejects it.
- UCLA study updates: findings that may inform public health policy and mitigation.
Community Statements
The incident was described in a release circulated by Food & Water Watch and echoed by local community advocates including Aliso Moms Alliance and Save Porter Ranch.
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