My Sources

angiechaoticcrooks0 "News  Newspaper  Word  Up To Date" 03/2015 via pixabay.com
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The first source I used was this L.A Times article which discusses the possibility for the end of the gas leak in the near future. The L.A. Times is very well known, very reliable newspaper, and the website is no different. The author of the article, Matt Hamilton, is a reporter for the L.A. Times. His background is in criminal and law investigation, which is good for the investigation into SoCal Gas Company, but not necessarily good for an accurate explanation of the environmental implications. This article was released yesterday, which means the information provided was up to date, but also didn't really cover the original leak that began in October. However, it does provide the most recent information on the topic, such as the tentative timeline for the closure of the link that a state representative gave, who happens to be one of the stake holders in the controversy.

In order to go back to the very beginning of the incident, I needed to find an article from October of 2015, yet I couldn't find any articles that went back that far. The earliest article that accurately explained what happened that I could find was from December in LA Weekly. Titled "What Went Wrong at Porter Ranch", this article simply but accurately explains what happened in order to cause this gas leak. LA weekly is a local magazine, less known than the LA Times, that attempts to uncover hidden stories that had not yet been covered by other media. It's covering of the Porter Ranch controversy implies that it had been rather hidden from the rest of the state of California up until that point. The author is Gene Maddaus is not very well known, like the magazine he works for. His twitter is composed of local stories ranging from sports teams to politics. He doesn't seem to have a background in the environmental field, but the content of the article is not scientific, it is just providing the details needed to become familiar with the topic and do further research. In a sense, it's the diving board into the rest of the pool.

The next article was in Rolling Stones and it brought my attention to the lawsuit that was filed against SoCal by the residents of Porter Ranch. Tessa Stuart, the author of the article, has a background in politics, making her opinion in the article valuable for analyzing the political aspects of the controversy. This source was published on February 3rd of this year, and is mostly a recap of the events and the political affiliations of those who are involved.

My next two sources were about the litigation against the SoCal company. The map that the site provided showed the leak in relation to the community, as well as the number of wells that are in Allison Canyon. It also provides some statistical data, but the company has refused to released any relevant information, which is what part of the case. The rest of the site is dedicated to explaining the litigation and who is involved. The law firms behind the case are Morgan and Morgan, Panish Shea and Boyle, Kennedy and Madonna, R. Rex Parris.

The next source I used was a local ABC newscast that was discussing the plans that the SoCal company had for relocating the residents affected by the leak. The local channel covers all the stories that happen in and around L.A., as well as the important national stories. This particular story was covered on February 4th, so again, it was fairly recently that this story was presented.

I also had two NPR articles that covered two aspects of the controversy. The first was a podcast that was an interview with an L.A. councilman discussing the entire issue. Not only does this interview explain what happened to the people of the community, but it also offers a succinct and viable explanation of the event and how it happened scientifically. The interviewee was Governor Jerry Brown. His understanding of the inter-workings of the well system allows the audience to get an inside view of the controversy. The next NPR article was written by Camila Domonoske about the order made by California regulators to shut down the wells completely. Domonoske typically covers more controversial subjects such as North Korea and sex workers rights.

The second to last article I researched was in Time magazine, written by Katie Reilly on January 11th. This story was a discussion of the long term effects of the gas leak on the California residents. It also does a very good job of explaining what happened at the site and why it has taken so long to cap the well. Katie Reilly typically covers more political stories, so her involvement in this story is a bit more biased than others.

The final source I used was another L.A. Times article which provided some final updates on the gas leak. However this article also provides links to other articles for future research as well as a timer that provides the amount of time since the leak started, which is very valuable for this project.  It was posted on January 3rd, fairly recently.