Sarah (L) and Serena (R) at ET Park. Serena lives in Porter Ranch and had to relocate with her family.
Since late October, an invisible environmental disaster has been unfolding in Porter Ranch, CA. A gas well owned by SoCal gas has been leaking uncontrollably for months, and it is still leaking today. Thousands of families have had to relocate. Schools have been evacuated and students are attending other schools temporarily. The air is toxic. People are sick. At least one person has died.
Some experts claim that this methane leak already has 5 times the climate impact as burning all the oil spilled during the 2010 BP oil spill, and it is still leaking today.
What makes this disaster unique is that you can't see it. If you go to Porter Ranch right now, everything is seemingly normal aside from the lack of residents and increased police surveillance. When the leak first began, scientists from Socal gas claimed that the gas wasn't harmful. But then children in Porter Ranch schools started getting severe nosebleeds, headaches, throat infections and experiencing nausea. Other residents had similar symptoms. Over 11,000 people have been relocated so far.
So where is the outrage? Why aren’t people talking about this? Is it because the gas is invisible?
This project is about bringing visibility to the the invisible environmental disaster that is taking place in our backyard. We want people to talk about what’s happening in Porter Ranch.