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PROFESSIONAL GAS MIGRATION EXPERTS SOUND THE ALARM:
HOUSING NEAR GAS STORAGE SITE COULD BE FORMULA FOR DISASTER
Public and Safety Issues
Billions of cubic feet of natural gas are being held at extremely high pressure in the partially depleted oil field that spans the area of Playa del Rey.
"Of the approximately three hundred sites in the United States where flammable gas is stored in the ground, I could not find one over which a municipality was actively promoting the building of housing. There is just too great a risk of a catastrophic accident."
- Bernard Endres, Ph.D. (Oil and Gas Environmental Consultant)
"The rate of gas loss due to uncontrolled migration and/or seepage into the atmosphere is approximately one hundred million cubic feet per year.
- M. Rasin Tek, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan.
"Records indicated that there are over 200 abandoned oil wells in the Playa del Rey field. The location of some of these is unknown."
- Public records
National Transportation Safety Bureau records show that each year there are explosions in and around high-pressure storage sites or pressurized pipes that carry flammable gases.In 1992, near Brenham, Texas, gas from an underground storage facility formed a cloud which exploded and devastated a one-square-mile area. It killed three, injured twenty-three, and caused millions of dollars in damage.
"If it had been a densely populated development such as Playa Vista, hundreds if not thousands would have been killed or injured and property damage would be incalculable."
- Bernard Endes, Ph.D.
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