Stakeholder #2

350.org "Porter Ranch, CA, USA" 12/12/2015 via flickr.com
Public Domain Dedication License

Stakeholder number two isn't a person, rather it is an large group of people, the members of Porter Ranch. The community at Porter Ranch, which is in the Northwest part of Los Anglese, California, had been established for quite a while, over two decades. A moderately diverse community, Porter Ranch was pretty normal, families of three or four, white picket fences and palm trees. Students would go to school at the charter or community school, while adults would drive to the center of L.A. to go to work. This neighborhood was as average as you could get, until the smell came. The smell of rotten eggs began pervading into the community, and eventually children and sickly adults fell ill with nose bleeds, nausea, and rashes. It was then when they learned that SoCalGas had not only been operating in the canyon beyond them, but also that they had failed to prevent a leak in one of their 50 year old wells. Needless to say, in between their bouts of itching and vomiting, they were angry, and wanted retribution

On behalf of these residents, the LA councilman, Mitchell Englander, that is representing them in government hearings for tighter restrictions against SoCalGas has released several statements, including this statement during an NPR interview: "Most people weren't aware that one of the largest gas storage facilities in the United States was in their backyard. There was, from what we're hearing, no disclosure when they bought their homes." It's clear, from this statement, that the resident's of Porter Ranch were being left in the dark about the activities going on behind their homes. Erin Brocovich, who had be essential in the litigation against P&E (another energy company) for a previous case of intense pollution and who lives not thirty minutes away from Porter Ranch, commented on the lies that were being feed to the community. "We're all taught in Kindergarten, if you smell gas, you run, right? But [residents] were being told it can't hurt you..." The SoCalGas company had begun leaking lies and excuses as fast as they were methane, all at the expense of the residents, who still was at a lost as to what was happening in their community. Finally, with the perfect response to the long term effects of this event, Roybn Shapiro, a long time member of the community, said "Everyone wanted to live in Porter Ranch, and now who is going to live there?"

I don't think these people, victims, have anything to win by lying about knowing the activities of SoCalGas. These people had already lost so much, their homes, their pets, and their health, and had they known about the wells and the leak, I don't think they would've risked so much just to make a profit off of the litigation. The credibility of Erin Brocovich has been well established through previous cases as well as other sources, such as a movie made in honor of her fight with P&E.

The residents of Porter Ranch are a small entity fighting against the large corporation SoCalGas. Their struggles cannot be mired by SoCal or the government, and their opinions are completely unique to their situation.