Porter Ranch community marks 10 years since the Aliso Canyon gas blowout

A decade after the Aliso Canyon gas blowout forced thousands to flee their homes, residents, researchers and local leaders gathered Sunday for an emotional town hall to reflect on the disaster’s enduring impact. Many renewed calls for permanent closure of the underground gas storage facility.

Held just a few miles from the still-operating Southern California Gas Company storage site, the event drew around 45 people, including residents, advocates and elected officials. UCLA scientists presented new findings linking the blowout to increased rates of low birth weight among babies born to mothers exposed during the months-long gas leak.

Among those in attendance was Sandi Naiman, a Porter Ranch resident who has lived for more than four decades near the gas wells. On the day of the blowout, she recalled spending hours with her then two-year-old grandson at a nearby park, unaware that methane was spewing into the air above them.

“I didn’t know the blowout was happening, they didn’t tell us for three days,” she said.

Naiman and her husband, then 65 and 66, briefly relocated to a hotel in Woodland Hills, but ultimately returned to their home due to age and caregiving responsibilities. Both have since battled cancer, she said, as have many of their neighbors.

“We’re waiting for the cancer study to see if that had an impact on us,” she said.

When asked whether her questions were answered at Sunday’s event, Naiman said, “As best they could be. I’m hoping to get more information from the health study.” Still, she added: “I wish they would close this down. They promised us that they would close it down and they didn’t.”

The Oct. 23, 2015 rupture of the SS-25 well released more than 100,000 metric tons of methane — the largest known gas leak in U.S. history. It took nearly four months to plug.

In 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom directed the California Public Utilities Commission to expedite the closure of the Aliso Canyon facility, building on a 2017 plan under then‑Governor Jerry Brown to phase out the site by around 2027. But ten years after the blowout, the site remains open — and community members say their concerns have not faded.

Deirdre Bolona, another longtime resident and cofounder of Aliso Moms Alliance whose home sat three blocks from the underground gas facility, said, “We want to know what is going to happen.”

Bolona said her father, who also lived nearby, died of kidney cancer after the blowout. She fears for her children’s long-term health.

“We were all there through it and I’m just worried about them all, about what’s coming for us,” she said. “I can’t wait to see the rest of the results and hopefully more health information so we can make good decisions on how to prevent what a lot of people have in our community.”

Helen Attai, another longtime advocate, described the toll on her and her family. She said a close family friend, a young woman with cystic fibrosis, saw her condition rapidly worsened after the blowout and died at 28.

“I have seen my family suffer. I’ve seen my neighbors suffer,” she said. “This is all wrong, I’d like to see justice.”

Those questions — about health, prevention and accountability — were central to Saturday’s event, which featured updates from UCLA researchers conducting a state-funded study on the blowout’s long-term effects.

Christina Batteate, the study’s deputy project manager, highlighted one of the latest results: Women exposed to the blowout during the later stages of pregnancy had a nearly 50% higher likelihood of giving birth to low birth weight babies.

When researchers divided the 10-kilometer impact zone into three segments — west, central and east — they found the risk varied significantly by location. The western segment saw a 130% higher rate of low birth weight, compared to 64% in the central zone. The pattern closely mirrors the direction of the methane gas plume, which satellite imagery showed drifting southwest from the underground facility shortly after the 2015 blowout.

The UCLA team also previewed a forthcoming study using satellite and infrared imagery, which tracked the methane plume up to 10 kilometers downwind. That helped researchers refine who was most exposed, a key factor in guiding long-term health assessments, Batteate said.

Unlike most studies, which typically release results at the end, the team has been sharing preliminary findings with residents through community meetings.

“When we have community meetings, we make sure that everybody knows these are preliminary results, they are subject to change,” Batteate said. “But given how long the community has waited for answers, we felt that it was very critical for them to have our preliminary findings as soon as they’re released.”

The next community meeting — the sixth hosted by the UCLA team — is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Nov. 18 at the Vineyard Porter Ranch community room, the same location as Sunday’s event. A Zoom option will also be available.

U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, who has long called for the facility’s closure, spoke at the event and criticized SoCalGas for failing to develop alternatives.

“Southern California Gas Company has done nothing for 10 years to figure out how to have a resilient, reliable, natural gas system for L.A. County and close this down,” he said in an interview. “Instead, they just went back to business as usual.”

State Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo also stopped by the event, and mayoral candidate Asaad Alnajjar, a member of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council, made remarks during the program.

Several residents expressed frustration over what they saw as years of broken promises and political inaction, particularly about long-standing calls to close the facility.

“There is a strong call, just throughout the community, to shut down Aliso Canyon, that is undeniable,” said Andrea Vega, a local organizer with nonprofit Food & Water Watch. “It’s easy to just feel like nothing’s ever going to change. But through community power, we can absolutely bring about change.”