Running Head: Port Ranch Gas Leak a Lesson for New Regulations
Porter Ranch Gas Leak: A Lesson for New Regulations
By Gregory Kofman
Arizona State University
Porter Ranch Gas Leak a Lesson for New Regulations
Abstract
The purpose of this newspaper article is to implore citizens to take a social crusade against oil and
gas companies not making the correct safety necessities to protect the people it sells to. It will
examine the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas gas leak that effected Porter Ranch residents and is
suggested to be the “worst man-made greenhouse-gas disaster” in US history. The problem are the
safety regulations and how the state reacted to help its communities, and this article will propose
a solution.
Keywords: Porter Ranch, gas leak, regulations, safety, methane exposure effects
Porter Ranch Gas Leak a Lesson for New Regulations
January 3rd, 2016, I got a call from my sister about my father passing out near Northridge
and was taken to West Hills Medical center. Northridge is a suburb of Los Angeles that resides
just to the south of a place called Porter Ranch. Porter Ranch is important because it is the site of
what caused my dad’s symptoms. He complained of dizziness and got a nosebleed before
fainting at a job. Now my dad is an appliance repair man, so he is used to working with
chemicals and breathing in bad things in on a daily basis. This was not Freon poisoning, a basic
chemical he was constantly encountered with. The doctors said these were all symptoms from
methane gas exposure, which was what my parents had just learned about from Porter Ranch.
Deep into Aliso Canyon where the Southern California Gas Company owns and operates natural
gas pipelines, there is a leak. A big, problematic leak that has caused tens of thousands of
residents to relocate, contract similar symptoms that my dad had, and harm hundreds of pets. My
