California Gov. Gavin Newsom affirmed the need to decommission the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Facility, which caused thousands of families to evacuate their homes in 2015 due to the largest known methane leak in the country, after regulators on Thursday voted to delay the closure.
“Aliso Canyon must be closed for good, but without harming working families with skyrocketing utility bills,” Newsom said of the underground gas storage facility located in the Santa Susana Mountains, about 28 miles north of Los Angeles.
“Reducing reliance on the facility has gone slower than I would like, but the Public Utilities Commission—a constitutionally independent agency—has set out a reasonable path that protects residents near the facility and doesn’t throw the natural gas market into chaos.”…