Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
LA County to seek extra time for Porter Ranch displaced to go home
Listen
• 0:11
Supervisor Michael Antonovich. A top aide says L.A. County will ask a judge to force SoCal Gas to continue paying for temporary housing for displaced Porter Ranch residents beyond Friday's deadline.
(
Andres Aguila/KPCC
)
Los Angeles County will ask Southern California Gas Co. to keep paying for temporary housing for Porter Ranch residents displaced by the natural gas leak beyond Friday's deadline, according to a top aide to L.A. County Supervisor Michael Antonovich.
If the gas company refuses, the county will ask a judge to extend the deadline, said Tony Bell, Antonovich's assistant chief deputy.
The deadline has already been extended once. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu M. Berle granted a three-week extension on Feb. 25, in response to L.A. County attorneys' argument that some of those who had already returned to their Porter Ranch homes were complaining of health problems, such as nausea, headaches, dizziness and respiratory problems.
The four-month leak was capped on Feb. 18.
Support for LAist comes from
The County Department of Public Health needs more time to plan how to carry out tests of air inside the homes of Porter Ranch residents, said Dr. Cyrus Rangan, director of the department's Bureau of Toxicology and Environmental Assessment.
"We don’t want people to go home without assurance that there is nothing there that is going to have an impact on their health," Bell said.
SoCal Gas spokesman Mike Mizrahi would not comment on the idea of another extension, but he said that ongoing tests in Porter Ranch are proving that the air "is safe to breathe."
"There’s really no reason when it comes to the air in Porter Ranch for people not to return to their homes," Mizrahi said.
SoCal Gas opposed the original extension in February, arguing at the time that the air in and around the community "has returned to the typical air-quality conditions that existed prior to the leak."
The County has received more than 300 health complaints since the well was capped and people began to return home, said Public Health's Rangan.
The gas company is testing the air inside about 75 Porter Ranch homes this week and plans to share the results with the county and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency next week.
Support for LAist comes from
L.A. County Public Health needs more time to set up its indoor air testing because it has sought planning help from the EPA, said Rangan. He said the county's testing would differ from what SoCal Gas is doing, because "we will try to figure out why people continue to express symptoms."
Last week, L.A. County Public Health collected more information on health complaints during a three-day, door-to-door survey of Porter Ranch residents who live within two to three miles of the leak. The department says it will have the results of that survey in the next several days.
Nearly 8,000 households relocated during the gas leak, according to the gas company. It says that as of March 13 3,189 households had checked out of their temporary lodgings, 1,912 were still in long-term interim housing, and another 3,114 households were staying in hotels or with friends or family.
This story has been updated.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist