Residents near the site of the largest known methane leak in U.S. history can now draw on the first $20 million in settlement money to swap their gas appliances for electric ones, 11 years after the 2015 Aliso Canyon blowout in the Los Angeles area.
The incentive program will eventually offer $40 million. It covers heat pumps that both warm and cool a home, along with electric stoves, water heaters and other appliances.
Anyone who owns a single-family home in the affected area qualifies. Residents who meet income limits can receive up to $31,800 toward installation costs, while owners of multiple properties will gain access at a later stage.
Evan Kamei directs TECH Clean California, the state program helping hand out the money. He said replacing aging gas equipment would make homes healthier, cut energy costs, provide cooling and create local jobs.
A leak that lasted months
The leak began when a natural gas storage well failed. For more than 100 days it vented close to 100,000 tons of methane and other pollutants, and crews needed nearly four months to bring it under control. Methane is a powerful heat-trapping gas that feeds climate change.
Thousands of families near the San Fernando Valley fell ill and left their homes to escape a sulfurous smell, headaches, nausea and nosebleeds. Southern California Gas Co. spent more than $1 billion on the disaster, most of it to temporarily relocate 8,000 families. The facility later reopened at reduced capacity after being judged safe.
In 2021, thousands of families settled with SoCalGas and its parent, Sempra Energy, for up to $1.8 billion. About 35,000 plaintiffs received compensation for personal injury and damage to their homes.
Getting cooks off gas
Weldon Kennedy, co-founder and chief marketing officer of the California startup Copper, said his company joined the effort after the group Energy Solutions flagged how difficult it would be to move people off gas cooking. Copper's induction stoves and ovens plug into a standard outlet, sparing owners the cost of rewiring.
People have a cultural attachment to gas when it comes to cooking,
Weldon Kennedy, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Copper
Gas stoves, used by 47 million Americans, give off nitrogen dioxide, which has been linked to asthma, and benzene, a carcinogen.
I do know some people that have died from blood-borne illnesses, cancer since then,
Carol Kamei, Aliso Canyon resident and former plaintiff
Carol Kamei, Evan Kamei's 72-year-old mother, has lived near the gas facility for 46 years and was a plaintiff against SoCalGas. Her nosebleeds stopped after she spent three months with her sister in Hollywood, and a recent UCLA health study found she has diminished lung capacity. She hopes to use the incentives to replace her oven with an electric model.
