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Explosive methane piped out from under Newport Beach home after prompting evacuations
Residents had left the home where the methane was discovered months earlier because oil was found seeping up around their foundation.
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CBS News Los Angeles
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Explosive methane piped out from under Newport Beach home
A gas leak on the Balboa Peninsula had prompted evacuations.
Topline:
City crews installed pipes to vent methane from a Newport Beach neighborhood after a gas leak was discovered Thursday. Seven homes were evacuated on Balboa Peninsula over worries about the risk of an explosion, city spokesperson John Pope said.
The leak: City officials aren’t sure exactly where the methane is coming from, but the leading theory is that it’s seeping from an orphaned oil well that was capped in 1929. The peninsula had approximately a dozen oil wells, which were capped and decommissioned by the 1930s.
The backstory: The homeowners had moved out of their house months ago because of crude oil oozing up around the foundation of the home. They called officials when they visited the house and smelled what they believed to be methane. An investigation confirmed high levels of the gas coming through a crack in the cement.
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Explosive methane piped out from under Newport Beach home
What’s next: According to the city, crews have completed venting operations and will likely let people back into their homes by the end of the weekend. As there’s no company to take responsibility for the orphaned well, it will be up to the homeowners to decide what to do next, Pope said.
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