The top Democrat on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology wants the Government Accountability Office to investigate for regulatory failings in the methane gas leak in southern California.
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, said at a committee meeting Wednesday that she wants the GAO to investigate the leak in Aliso Canyon, outside of Los Angeles. The Environmental Defense Fund estimates more than 95,500 metric tons of methane leaked into the atmosphere due to the failings of a well owned by Southern California Gas Co.
“I’m asking GAO to investigate the Southern Cal gas leak where the continual leak of methane has caused thousands to flee their homes,” Johnson said.
Environmental groups have said stronger regulations could have prevented the leak in southern California. The well was not required to have a safety valve that would have stopped the leak once it occurred, they note.
The amount of methane spilling from the well has caused more than 2,000 people to flee their homes in the Porter Ranch neighborhood of Aliso Canyon. Work is being done now to drill a fresh well to slow the leak, but that’s likely to take a few months.
Johnson made the request for the investigation while fighting back against the most recent hearing called by committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, to criticize Obama environmental regulations.
The hearing, titled “Midnight Regulations: Examining Executive Branch Overreach,” sought to examine environmental regulations handed down by the administration in the last several months that Smith and other Republicans see as too costly.
Johnson told Smith she believed the hearing was more of the “same, tired rhetoric” of Republicans attacking agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy and she asked him to focus on other issues.
“I look forward to the day where this Congress and this committee will step back from its counter-productive measures against the EPA and DOE , who are just trying to carry out their statutory missions,” she said.
