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LA Gas Leak ‘Destabilises’, Officials Fear Catastrophic Explosion

Southern California Gas Corporation have said that current efforts to plug the enormous methane gas leak in Porter Ranch, California are destabilizing the situation and risking a bigger “blowout” at the facility.  A blowout would increase the already dangerous levels of methane in the air that millions of Californian’s breathe in, in a way that “could be catastrophic,” the Public Utility Commission say. Enenews.com reports: Los Angeles Times: Efforts to plug Porter Ranch-area gas leak worsened blowout risk, regulators say — Southern California Gas Co… is trying to avoid a blowout, which state regulators said is now a significant concern after a seventh attempt to plug the well created more precarious conditions at the site. If a blowout occurs, highly flammable gas would vent directly up through the well… rather than dissipating as it does now… State officials said a blowout would increase the amount of leaked gas… That natural gas also creates the risk of a massive fire… The risk of fire already is so high that cellphones and watches are banned from the site… [The gas company’s attempts to stop the leak] expanded a crater around the wellhead, state and gas company officials said. Thecrater is now 25 feet deep, 80 feet [...]