Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Why Engineers Can’t Stop Los Angeles' Enormous Methane Leak

One of the biggest environmental disasters in US history is happening right now, and you’ve probably never heard of it.
An enormous amount of harmful methane gas is currently erupting from an energy facility in Aliso Canyon, California, at a startling rate of 110,000 pounds per hour. The gas, which carries with it the stench of rotting eggs due to the addition of a chemical called mercaptan, has led to the evacuation 1,700 homes so far. Many residents have already filed lawsuits against the company that owns the facility, the Southern California Gas Company.
Footage taken on December 17 shows a geyser of methane gas spewing from the Earth, visible by a specialized infrared camera operated by an Earthworks ITC-certified thermographer. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) released the footage last week, calling it “one of the biggest leaks we’ve ever seen reported” and “absolutely uncontained”:

https://motherboard.vice.com/read/why-we-cant-stop-the-enormous-methane-leak-flooding-la 

No comments: