Although Southern California Gas Co. and Sempra Energy settled litigation involving the 2015 Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility blowout to the tune of $1.8 billion, one plaintiff’s attorney isn’t satisfied.
Rex Parris, who represents 9,000 of the 35,000 victims with a team of attorneys, stands to gain 25% to 30% based on the lawyer fee agreement negotiated with his clients but, says it isn’t enough.
“Whenever you have a massive case like this, you're never happy,” said Parris. “I'm unhappy that the facility is still open. There was nothing we could do about that. The court of appeals said it was up to the public utilities commission. So, we were unable to close it. I am really happy that my clients are going to finally see some money after all these years.”
The lawsuit emerged after 54 natural gas storage wells belonging to SoCalGas near Porter Ranch failed and released some 100,000 tons of methane that lasted 118 days, according to media reports. The blowout is among the biggest natural gas leaks nationwide.
“It’s still poisoning people,” Parris told the Southern California Record. “It’s an old oil field. It wasn't a gas field. The reason that's significant is there are literally over a thousand holes in the ground from old wells that they just buried and covered up. So, all of those holes are leaking. It's impossible to use this for gas storage in a safe manner.”
Residents alleged they have been exposed to benzene, uranium, crude oil, and other chemicals that may cause cancer.
“It's still leaking,” Parris said “It has always leaked. Every now and then people still smell gas because of the gas leaking and whenever you smell it, you're being poisoned.”
While Sempra and SoCalGas have denied wrongdoing, ABC reported that the defendants and their attorneys were fined more than $5.7 million for withholding some 150,000 papers.
“The judge who was handling the case was a no-nonsense judge and then it was passed to the guy who was going to be the trial judge and he was a good judge but Judge Kuhl doesn’t like cheaters,” Parris added.
SoCalGas separately settled with prosecutors for $4 million but Parris said the utility giant was let off the hook too easily.
“That was a sweetheart deal,” he said. “The district attorney’s office gave them a walk and the city attorney's office did too. We objected to it and we were screaming about it but they might as well have been representing Southern California Gas. This facility for years and years and years reported to the federal government they were losing 30% of gas every year. It was leaking 30%! It's a crime to discharge that into the environment.”