Gas well blow-out near L.A.: latest industrial mega-disaster, following on BP "spill" and Fukushima

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Produced by: 
KBOO
Air date: 
Wed, 12/30/2015 - 12:00am
Guests Matt Pakucko of Save Porter Ranch; Alex Nagy of Food & Water Watch on huge methane leak
Since  October 23, an aging gas well that ruptured has been spewing enormous amounts of methane into the air at the northern end of the San Fernando Valley outside of Los Angeles. Like the 2010 BP oil "spill" and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant meltdowns, this is an unprecedented, out-of-control situation involving energy extraction or production facilities. And, like those other two recent industrial disasters, the corporate and government response has been slow, deceptive and pathetically inadequate to the scale of the problem.

To discuss this unfolding situation, host Paul Roland speaks with Matt Pakucko, a resident of the nearby community of Porter Ranch, currently living in a hotel because the escaping gas has made living in his house impossible, just as for thousands of other residents. He is involved with Save Porter Ranch (http://www.saveporterranch.com/,https://www.facebook.com/SavePorterRanch/).Also on the show will be Alexandra Nagy, Southern California Organizer at the Los Angeles branch of Food & Water Watch. Among other things, Nagy has been working to get a statewide ban on fracking.

Do you think corporations should be left to clean up their own disastrous mishaps? Do you think the existing regulatory framework is adequate to prevent such colossal messes? Should we at least start talking about seizing corporate assets in order to most effectively address the situation? Is any solution actually possible within a profit-based capitalist economic system? Let's have a lively and coherent conversation!

Opening and closing song: "Too Much Pressure" by The Selecter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf7v1iWc4tk

Articles:
http://www.laweekly.com/news/what-went-wrong-at-porter-ranch-6405804

http://gizmodo.com/las-gas-leak-disaster-is-a-bigger-problem-than-you-real-1750035270

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