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Residents Affected By Methane Leak Hold Protest Against SoCal Gas

PORTER RANCH (CBSLA.com) — Dozens of Porter Ranch residents affected by the biggest methane leak in U.S. history held a demonstration Friday night against Southern California Gas Co. responsible for the environmental disaster.

The protesters gathered at Mason Park in Chatsworth. They demanded that the utility pay for cleanup costs, reimburse all expenses related to the gas leak and abide by a court ruling ordering the company to continue paying for temporary-housing expenses until March 18.

The company filed an appeal to the ruling Friday.

"We have not received a reimbursement check yet from them. We've been gone for a month," said Jennifer Milbauer of Chatsworth.

Sandy Crawford and her family moved back into their Granada Hills home for few hours Thursday, which was the original deadline for displaced residents to return to their homes as SoCal Gas had planned to cut off funding for their temporary housing.

"We've tried to come home three different times. And each time, we've had big symptoms and had to go back to the hotel," Crawford said. She showed a picture of her three-year-old son who, she said, suffered a bloody nose caused by the methane.

"So we had to book the rooms again. Come back here use our own money. And we don't know when we're going get reimbursed for that," Crawford added.

The utility insisted that independent studies found the air is safe.

An assistance center at Mason Park is expected to stay open indefinitely to help families with counseling, employment issues or advice with their power bills because they've had to run air filters in their homes.

"You can put in an appeal for lower value, obviously lower property taxes," said Chris Ipsen of the Los Angeles City Emergency Management Department.

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