Grassroots Coalition Warns: Explosions and Fires Occurring at Underground Gas Reservoir in Texas Could Happen at Playa Vista.

PLAYA DEL REY, Calif. -- Reacting to the massive explosions and fires that began August 20th at the Duke Energy underground gas storage reservoir near Houston, Texas, Grassroots Coalition has again urged the Los Angeles City Council and Playa Vista Developers to reconsider placing high-density housing immediately beside a similar underground gas reservoir.

According to reports, the initial explosion sent flames 1000 feet into the air and caused the evacuation of residents within a three-mile radius of the gas storage reservoir which holds approximately six billion (6,000,000,000) cubic feet of natural gas. A second explosion rocked the facility early Friday morning, prompting authorities to expand the evacuation zone.

One report stated: "It was like an earthquake. I heard a boom and the flame got real hot and white. My house started shaking and the windows started rattling," Liberty County resident Kenny Pritchett told KPRC-TV in Houston.

According to Dr. Rasin Tek, professor emeritus of chemical engineering, University of Michigan, Southern California Gas Company (a Sempra Energy company) stores approximately seven billion (7,000,000,000) cubic feet of natural gas in a similar manner in the depleted oil field which underlies the Ballona Wetlands on the west side of Los Angeles.

The Ballona Wetlands is the site of the high-density housing development known as Playa Vista.

"A number of experts in the field of underground gas storage have warned the City of Los Angeles that it is dangerous to permit high-density housing in such close proximity to an underground gas reservoir of this kind," said Durnford King, Communications Director for Grassroots.

"The explosion at the Duke Energy facility is the third of its kind involving underground gas storage in the past few years," added King.

"Perhaps the most spectacular of these occurred in 1992 near Brenham, Texas," added Dr. Bernard Endres, an internationally known expert in the field of gas storage. "Leaking gas from an underground reservoir formed a cloud which caused a catastrophic explosion that devastated a square-mile area. Since it was a rural area, the number of killed and injured was limited. If it had occurred in a densely populated area the death toll would have been much higher."

"Another deadly explosion in Kansas in 2001 blew up part of the town of Hutchinson," stated Jeanette Vosburg, Director of Outreach for Grassroots.

According to a spokesperson for Duke Energy, the storage caverns at Moss Bluff are salt domes and contain no toxins that could be released into the atmosphere.

"Unfortunately," added Dr. Endres, "the gas at Playa Vista is being stored in a toxic oil field within which are quantities of several deadly chemicals, including benzene, toluene and hydrogen sulfide."

"The danger is," stated Durnford King, "an explosion at this reservoir could release a cloud of deadly toxins that would quickly envelope the Playa Vista development which, according to the developers' plan, will be the home of ten thousand people.

"The death toll could be staggering," added King, "and the liability for the taxpayers of Los Angeles could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars."