News Digest

The foul smell that’s driven thousands from their exclusive homes

Laura Gideon and her family endured the sickening stench from an out-of-control natural gas leak for about a month before they could no longer tolerate the nausea, headaches and nosebleeds. After she went to the emergency room in November vomiting and with a severe migraine, Gideon, her husband and their two children abandoned the only home they’d ever known together in the upscale Los Angeles suburb of Porter Ranch. They moved in with her parents about 10 miles away to await a fix that could still be months away. “We’re in mourning now,” she said. “We didn’t ever want to leave.”

I can’t understand all these people. Everybody wants a freebie … Unless something’s really bad, we don’t complain.

Resident Bob Casselman, who doesn’t get why his neighbours are leaving

Thousands of her neighbours have voluntarily followed suit in an exodus from an invisible threat that wafts occasionally and doesn’t sicken everyone in its path, though it continues to spew enormous amounts of climate-changing methane. The leak has cost the utility $50 million so far and is expected to balloon as the company tries a tricky fix to plug a well deep underground, while also shelling out compensation for exasperated residents and fighting dozens of lawsuits. Under orders from the county health department to relocate people who want to leave, SoCalGas has offered to pay up to $250 a night for hotels, plus $45 per person per day for food, or up to up to $7,500 a month for rental homes. The leak is expected to be stopped in March, but the company has agreed to house people through April.

We’re not a bunch of hicks. We’re like Porter Ranch, it’s like, you know, the Beverly Hills of the valley. We’re like BMW people and you’re giving us Pinto service.

Cheri Derohanian complains she has been offered unsuitable temporary accommodation