Southern California Braces for Summer Blackouts Due to Porter Ranch Gas Leak

 http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-aliso-canyon-blackouts-20160405-story.html

State officials warn that Southern California could face as many as 14 days of scheduled blackouts this summer because of depleted reserves of natural gas caused by the massive leak in Aliso Canyon.
The canyon in the hills above Porter Ranch is a crucial gas storage facility, supplying 17 power plants in the Los Angeles Basin. But the four-month leak that began in October left the facility at one-fifth of its capacity and new injections of gas have been prohibited until all of its wells have passed comprehensive tests.
Officials estimate the storage facility won’t be back on line for months, leaving local power plants without a key source of natural gas.
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In addition to the summer blackouts, the region could face an additional eight to 18 days of outages later in the year, according to the report by Rothleder’s agency and the California Energy Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
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Although Southern California Gas Co. sealed the Aliso Canyon leak in February, it is prohibited from injecting gas into the reservoir until safety checks are completed on the facility’s remaining 114 wells. So far, none of the wells has passed the required tests.