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Lawmakers Call For Immediate Moratorium At SoCal Gas Company's Aliso Canyon Storage Facility

PORTER RANCH (CBSLA.com) — State lawmakers called for change Monday outside of Southern California Gas Company's Aliso Canyon storage facility where natural gas has been leaking for several months.

During a news conference, lawmakers called for an immediate moratorium on the site's riskiest activities, CBS2's Kara Finnstrom reported.

"We want to halt all new injection of gas into this particular facility," said State Sen. Ben Allen. "I think in the long term we want to phase this place out. It has proven to be a real disaster site."

In order to prevent similar disasters from occurring at other facilities, senators proposed to have frequent inspections at all sites and sought ideas for better ways to detect the leaks.

According to officials, the leak has driven thousands of families from their homes since October 2015. Gov. Jerry Brown has issued a state of emergency in response to the incident.

SoCal Gas Company crews said it may take until March to cap the leak at the storage facility.

On Dec. 17, 2015, LAUSD board members declared an emergency at Porter Ranch Community School and Castlebay Lane Charter School in response to the ongoing natural gas leak. Students were subsequently moved temporarily to alternate locations.

According to LAUSD, Porter Ranch Community School, which hosts roughly 1,100 kindergarten through 8th-grade students, is located about two miles from the SoCal Gas Company facility. Students will return to class at 8:25 a.m. Tuesday on the campus of Northridge Middle School.

Castlebay Lane Charter School, which teaches about 770 kindergarten through 5th-grade students, is located about a mile from the site. Those students will return to class at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at Sunny Brae Elementary School in Winnetka.

All other LAUSD students will return to school campuses this morning.

(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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