SoCalGas Announces Agreement with Los Angeles County to End Temporary Relocation Program

LOS ANGELES, May 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced the company and the County of Los Angeles have submitted a joint statement with the Superior Court agreeing that the preliminary injunction requiring the continuation of the temporary relocation program should be dissolved by the Court effective 5 p.m. on Friday, May 20, 2016.  The Court is scheduled to address this and related issues on Friday, May 20, 2016. The County and SoCalGas differ regarding proposals for the timing for relocated residents to return home; SoCalGas proposes that relocated residents should return home by the end of this weekend, and the County proposes an interior cleaning program for currently relocated residents to be paid for by SoCalGas and a longer transition period to return home (five days following such cleaning and eight days after May 20 for relocated residents not electing the cleaning).  The proposed termination of the relocation program comes after all of the available data, including the recent publication of results from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health's (DPH) indoor sampling program, show it is safe for relocated Porter Ranch area residents to return home. 

The Department of Public Health's data clearly indicate that none of the approximately 250 substances the agency tested for in the homes, including metals such as barium, were detected at any level of health concern.  The data confirms what thousands of outdoor air samples have already demonstrated:  There is no risk to public health related to the leak and it is, and has been, safe for residents who chose to relocate to return home.

SoCalGas continues to work to support the transition back to normalcy.  Over the past several months, our dedicated employees, many of whom live in Porter Ranch, have served more than 30,000 resident visits at our Community Resource Center, provided temporary housing for 8,000 families, processed more than 41,000 reimbursements totaling $76 million, installed 38,000 air filtration systems, and cleaned public parks, playgrounds, and schools.

SoCalGas will continue to work quickly to process reimbursements, and deliver on its promise to mitigate the actual natural gas released from the leak.

About Southern California Gas Co: Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) has been delivering clean, safe and reliable natural gas to its customers for more than 145 years. It is the nation's largest natural gas distribution utility, providing service to 21.6 million consumers connected through 5.9 million meters in more than 500 communities. The company's service territory encompasses approximately 20,000 square miles throughout central and Southern California, from Visalia to the Mexican border. SoCalGas is a regulated subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), a Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Diego.

This press release contains statements that are not historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by words like "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "contemplates," "intends," "assumes," "depends," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "target," "pursue," "goals," "outlook," "maintain" or similar expressions, or discussions of guidance, strategies, plans, goals, opportunities, projections, initiatives, objectives or intentions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Future results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon various assumptions involving judgments with respect to the future and other risks, including, among others: local, regional, and national economic, competitive, political, legislative, legal, and regulatory conditions, decisions, and developments; actions and the timing of actions, including general rate case decisions, new regulations, issuances of permits to construct, operate and maintain facilities and equipment and to use land, franchise agreements, and licenses for operation, by the California Public Utilities Commission, California State Legislature, U.S. Department of Energy, California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, California Energy Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, California Air Resources Board, South Coast Air Quality Management District, cities and counties, and other regulatory, governmental and environmental bodies in the United States; the timing and success of business development efforts and construction, maintenance and capital projects, including risks in obtaining, maintaining or extending permits, licenses, certificates and other authorizations on a timely basis and risks in obtaining adequate and competitive financing for such projects;  the resolution of civil and criminal litigation and regulatory investigations; deviations from regulatory precedent or practice that result in a reallocation of benefits or burdens among shareholders and ratepayers and delays in regulatory agency authorization to recover costs in rates from customers; the availability of electric power and natural gas, and natural gas pipeline and storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the North American transmission grid, moratoriums on the ability to withdraw natural gas from or inject natural gas into storage facilities, pipeline explosions and equipment failures; energy markets; the timing and extent of changes and volatility in commodity prices; the impact on the value of our natural gas storage assets from low natural gas prices, low volatility of natural gas prices and the inability to procure favorable long-term contracts for natural gas storage services; risks that our partners or counterparties will be unable (due to liquidity issues, bankruptcy or otherwise) or unwilling to fulfill their contractual commitments; capital markets conditions, including the availability of credit and the liquidity of our investments, and inflation and interest rates; cybersecurity threats to the energy grid, natural gas storage and pipeline infrastructure, the information and systems used to operate our businesses and the confidentiality of our proprietary information and the personal information of our customers and employees; terrorist attacks that threaten system operations and critical infrastructure; wars; weather conditions, natural disasters, catastrophic accidents, equipment failures and other events that may disrupt our operations, damage our facilities and systems, cause the release of greenhouse gasses and harmful emissions, and subject us to third-party liability for property damage or personal injuries, fines and penalties, some of which may not be covered by insurance or may be disputed by insurers; the inability or determination not to enter into long-term supply and sales agreements or long-term firm capacity agreements due to insufficient market interest, unattractive pricing or other factors; and other uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control.

These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that the company has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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SOURCE Southern California Gas Co.

Related Links

http://www.socalgas.com