There is a horrible eco-disaster playing out in the U.S. near Los Angeles, California at the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility. A natural gas well above a huge underground storage area for natural gas has been spewing out a steady stream of natural gas for more than two months. It will be months before it is under control. Plants and animals in the area are fleeing or dying. People have become ill and whole housing developments have had to be evacuated. Natural gas is a greenhouse gas that is a hundred times worse that carbon dioxide.
It has been reported that the authorities are grossly underestimating the amount of natural gas that has been released. In addition, there are reports that every natural gas field in the U.S. is leaking large quantities of natural gas. The natural gas leak is an ecological catastrophe but there are other dangerous substances also coming out of that well.
There is naturally occurring uranium in the soil of the natural gas field. There is also radium in the soil. Radium produces radon gas which can be a problem in the basements of houses in some parts of the U.S. Along with the natural gas leaking out of the L.A. field, there is also radon gas leaking. Every hour, about seventy four billion decaying radioactive nuclei are released in the leak. Over an eighty day period, the leak has released three hundred trillion decaying nuclei into the atmosphere. This amounts to about two and a half million lethal inhalation doses of radiation sent into the air around L.A. Some researchers suggest that some of the symptoms that are showing up in people near the leak may actually be from radiation poisoning and not from natural gas poisoning. While it is true that the radioactive substances release from the natural gas leak are being dispersed over a wide area and diluted as they mix with the atmosphere, it is still possible that some people in the area are receiving health damaging doses of radiation because of the gas leak.
The radon gas leaking from the well is colorless and odorless. Because it cannot be seen or smelled, there is less immediate public reaction to the leak than there would be to the same amounts of pollutants being sent up as smoke from a fire. The authorities have been slow to respond to the situation and the company that manages the well has been less than quick and competent in dealing with it. So far it has been treated as more of a problem for the well site than a wide-spread public health risk.
The authorities should tell the company to stop any other activity and concentrate all resources and assets on stopping that leak. If the company has to spend itself into bankruptcy to deal with the leak, then so be it. It should not be allowed to bank one cent of profit as long as that well is leaking. People’s lives and health are at stake and no effort or expense should be spared in dealing with this disaster.
Site of the natural gas leak:
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