Southern California Gas Company's leaking well at its storage facility in Porter Ranch has been sealed four months after it was first discovered, according to Jason Marshall of the California Dept. of Conservation.
As of early January, SoCalGas spent more than $50 million to combat the leak, and the company is prepared to spend up to a limit of $1 billion in relief efforts, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Until Wednesday, funding for cleanup of lead and arsenic contamination stemming from an Exide battery plant in Vernon, Calif. have totaled only a fraction of those spent in response in to the Porter Ranch crisis.
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On Wednesday, however, Gov. Jerry Brown proposed spending $176.6 million to increase the speed of the cleanup and expand area in which soil is tested for contamination.
The Exide plant, which permanently closed in March of last year, has affected an estimated 10,000 Vernon households, double to amount of homes affected by the Porter Ranch gas leak.
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Exposure to lead contamination still leaves thousands of Vernon residents at risk to serious health problems and illnesses, such as pain and memory loss, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. The agency also says there can be worse complications if people have prolonged exposure to lead.
As of now, only 200 out of the 10,000 Vernon homes have been cleaned up, costing an estimated $45,000 per home.
Reach Staff Reach Staff Reporter Garrett Schwartz here.
Annenberg Media