Aliso Canyon settlement makes electric appliance funding available

Single-family homes qualify; certain income-qualified residents can receive added support

The first $20 million in incentives from the Aliso Canyon settlement is now available to people in the affected area with single-family homes. The $40 million program will provide incentives to help install heat pumps that cool and heat homes, electric stoves, water heaters and other appliances replacing gas equipment at homes and buildings affected by the 2015 Los Angeles-area blowout. Certain income-qualified residents are eligible for up to $31,800 to cover electric installations. Access for multi-property owners will come later.

The Associated Press described the Aliso Canyon event as the largest known methane leak in the United States. A natural-gas storage well at the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Facility failed in 2015 and uncontrollably released nearly 100,000 tons of methane and other substances into the atmosphere for more than 100 days. Controlling the leak took nearly four months. The report described methane as a potent heat-trapping gas that contributes to extreme weather events worldwide through climate change.

The blowout sickened thousands of families and forced them from their homes near the San Fernando Valley to escape a sulfurous stench and maladies including headaches, nausea and nose bleeds. The natural-gas facility involved in the blowout temporarily closed and later reopened at reduced capacity after being deemed safe to operate.

Organizations involved in distributing the settlement money said the incentives would help create safer and cleaner homes. Evan Kamei, the director of TECH Clean California, a state program helping distribute the money, said the incentives “will help create healthier homes, lower energy costs, deliver cooling, and create local jobs by replacing aging gas appliances with efficient electric appliances.”

The appliance program draws on a 2021 settlement that reached thousands of families affected by the blowout. The agreement with Southern California Gas Co. and its parent, Sempra Energy, was worth up to $1.8 billion. Some 35,000 plaintiffs were compensated after complaining of personal injury and property damage to their homes. SoCalGas spent more than $1 billion on the blowout, with most of that money going to temporarily relocate 8,000 families.

The Associated Press reported that products such as electric appliances are one way to address the significant amount of pollution driving climate change that comes from cooking, heating and cooling living spaces and providing hot water in buildings. The report also said switching from gas to electricity can save energy and lower bills. It said cooking with electricity comes with health benefits. The report said gas stoves, used by 47 million Americans, release pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, which is linked to asthma, and benzene, described as cancer-causing.

Weldon Kennedy, the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Copper, a California startup that sells electric induction stoves and ovens, said his company got involved with the program to distribute settlement money after the group Energy Solutions highlighted how hard it would be to get people to switch their cooking appliances from gas to electric. Kennedy said, “People have a cultural attachment to gas when it comes to cooking.” Copper’s appliances may help ease the barrier because they can be plugged into a regular outlet without the usual rewiring expense.

Carol Kamei, Evan Kamei’s 72-year-old mother, has lived for 46 years near the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Facility and was one of the plaintiffs in the case against Southern California Gas Co. She remembers smelling gas and getting nose bleeds. When she read in the news that the leak was also spewing cancer-causing benzene, she knew it was time to go.

Carol Kamei said her nose bleeds went away after moving in with her sister in Hollywood for three months. She recently participated in a health study by the University of California, Los Angeles and found out she has diminished lung capacity, one of the health impacts researchers look for, she said. “I do know some people that have died from blood-borne illnesses, cancer since then,” Carol Kamei said.

Carol Kamei hopes to use the incentive funding to replace her oven with an electric one. “I’d rather not use gas,” she said.

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. AP says it is solely responsible for all content.