PORTER RANCH, Calif., Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Southern California Gas Co. has pinpointed a natural gas leak that displaced thousands of residents of the Porter Ranch community in the Fernando Valley as two videos of the leak surfaced.
SoCal Gas is still "not sure of the exact location of the leak, but suspects it is within a shallow level -- within the first several hundred feet of the 8,700-foot well," company spokesman Anne Silva told the Los Angeles Times.
The company has been constructing relief wells after discovering the site of the target well by using a magnetic ranging tool. Videos of the leak, shot with a specialized infrared camera aboard a helicopter, have been circulated by the Environmental Defense Fund and the Earthworks advocacy groups.
"What you can't see is easy to ignore. That's why communities that suffer from pollution from oil and gas development are often dismissed by industry and regulators," Earthworks spokesperson Alan Septoff said in a statement. "Making invisible pollution visible shows the world what people in Porter Ranch have been living with every day for months."