Southern California Gas Co. will pay $8.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by air quality regulators over the nearly four-month Aliso Canyon gas leak and will fund a study of potential community health impacts.
Under a settlement signed Wednesday with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the utility will pay $5.65 million in emissions penalties, $1.6 million to reimburse the agency for air-monitoring costs and $250,000 for its legal fees.
The agreement dedicates $1 million to the air district-sponsored health study.
The gas company’s Aliso Canyon storage facility above the Porter Ranch neighborhood of Los Angeles has been shut down since a well blowout in late October 2015 resulted in the worst methane leak in U.S. history.
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