Washington—Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today announced her support for California State Senator Henry Stern’s bill to prevent regulators from reopening the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility until the independent, root-cause safety analysis is completed.

“I believe it is important for state regulators and the public to be fully aware of what caused the disastrous natural gas leak last year before proceeding to determine whether the facility is safe to reopen,” Senator Feinstein wrote.

Full text of letter below:

February 6, 2017

The Honorable Henry Stern
California State Senate
State Capitol, Room 3070
Sacramento, California 95814

Dear Senator Stern:

I am writing in support of your bill to extend the moratorium on injecting natural gas into the Aliso Canyon underground natural gas storage facility until the ongoing root cause analysis is complete. I believe it is important for state regulators and the public to be fully aware of what caused the disastrous natural gas leak last year before proceeding to determine whether the facility is safe to reopen.

It is my view that the most responsible action would be to permanently shut down Aliso Canyon. Now that the housing developments for 30,000 people have grown up around the facility, our first responsibility must be the safety of the residents. It is absolutely unacceptable that more than 5,000 families were forced from their homes as a result of this disaster.

I believe that additional requirement imposed by your bill will contribute to the factual basis for the safety determination required by current law. Unless state regulators and the public can have confidence that the facility can be made safe, the facility should not be allowed to replenish its natural gas inventories.

Senator Stern, I applaud your leadership on this matter, and I urge your colleagues to vote in favor of this critical piece of legislation that will help to assure our communities that the serious health and safety risks associated Aliso Canyon have been properly understood.

Sincerely,

Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

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