For Immediate Release:

May 22, 2016

LOS ANGELES – As Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) began cleaning the homes of relocated Porter Ranch residents on Sunday, May 22, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) mobilized Environmental Health Specialists to observe the cleaning performed by SoCalGas’s contractors. Public Health concluded that the remedial cleaning, implemented by SoCalGas and their contractors, does not comply with the cleaning protocol.

Public Health has directed SoCalGas to immediately discontinue cleaning and meet with Public Health tomorrow, Monday, May 23 to discuss how they propose to resolve the deficiencies and ensure strict compliance with the court ordered protocol. Public Health found that the contractor was neither equipped nor trained for proper cleaning as required by Public Health. The work will not resume until SoCalGas provides necessary assurance that it can carry out the cleaning in compliance with the Public Health protocol.

Cleaning, as designed by Public Health, was ordered in a ruling by Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, May 20. SoCalGas was ordered to pay for professional comprehensive cleaning in the homes of residents who are relocated due to the Aliso Canyon Gas Leak disaster. The court’s decision requires SoCalGas to offer comprehensive cleaning to relocated residents in advance of their return home.

Homes of residents who are not currently in the relocation program are not addressed in this decision but are covered by the Public Health Directive. It is important for SoCalGas to fulfill this Directive for everyone in the impacted community regardless of relocation status. Public Health will continue to demand that SoCalGas clean all homes covered by the Directive. As the court acknowledged in its decision, the Porter Ranch community fairly may require SoCalGas, after it created this unprecedented disaster, to clean up the situation it created.

Pursuant to the Court’s ruling, SoCalGas shall immediately contact relocated residents to schedule cleaning of their homes. Relocated residents who want cleaning must request cleaning by the following deadlines, or residents will be deemed to have declined cleaning: Residents who are in hotels have until May 25 at 5:00 p.m. to request cleaning; Residents, who are in housing other than hotels, will have until May 27 at 5:00 p.m. to request cleaning.

Relocation benefits for people who do not request cleaning before their respective deadlines would expire 48 hours after those deadlines (May 27 at 5:00 p.m. for people in hotels, and May 29 at 5:00 p.m. for people in housing other than hotels). Residents who choose cleaning have 48 hours to return home after their residence has been professionally cleaned. SoCalGas is not obliged to pay relocation allowances after the 48- hour deadline.

Public Health, its partner agencies and scientific experts will continue to monitor environmental conditions and health surveillance data, and will continue to intervene as may be necessary to protect health in the communities affected by the Aliso Canyon Storage Facility.

For more information about the Aliso Canyon Gas Leak disaster, visit: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/gasleak.

The Department of Public Health is committed to protecting and improving the health of the nearly 10 million residents of Los Angeles County. Through a variety of programs, community partnerships and services, Public Health oversees environmental health, disease control, and community and family health. Public Health comprises nearly 4,000 employees and has an annual budget exceeding $900 million. To learn more about the LA County Department of Public Health and the work they do, visit PublicHealth.LACounty.gov/, and follow Public Health on social media at twitter.com/LAPublicHealth, facebook.com/LAPublicHealth, and youtube.com/LAPublicHealth.

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