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ByBrianMelley TheAssociatedPress LOS ANGELES A natu- ral gas leak that sickened Los Angeles residents and forced thousands from their homes was the larg- est known release of cli- mate-changing methane in U.S. history, scientists re- ported Thursday. The blowout from a well at a Southern California Gas Co. storage facility lasted 16 weeks and spewed 107,000 tons of methane, according to a study published in the journal Science. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that con- tributes to global warming. Preliminary figures from the study were previ- ously reported, but the ar- ticle includes final results and puts the leak in con- text with other disasters and other sources of global warming. The leak first reported Oct. 23 at the Aliso Canyon storage facility near Porter Ranch released the green- house gas equivalent of 572,000 cars in a year, the report said. The total amount of nat- ural gas released was sec- ond only to the collapse of an underground storage fa- cility in Moss Bluff, Texas, in 2004, the report said. In that case, methane — a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide — burned off in a fireball so the climate impact wasn't as great, said Stephen Con- ley, an atmospheric scientist at University of California, Davis, who co-authored the article. "In terms of climate im- pact, this is the largest," Conley said of the Califor- nia leak. "If you're specifi- cally looking at that, this is the winner." The total methane re- leased weighed the equiva- lent of two aircraft carriers and at its peak it discharged enough gas to fill a balloon the size of the Rose Bowl ev- ery day. The leak had been gush- ing nonstop for two weeks when Conley was sent in November by the Califor- nia Energy Commission to fly his small plane outfitted to measure methane near Porter Ranch. As he took a pass through the invisible plume, he did a double-take at results on a laptop tracking emis- sions. He was used to flying about a half-mile from a leak and finding methane measurements of 3 parts per million in a big leak and 4 parts per million in a huge one. He was a mile from the leak and the read- ings were 50 parts per mil- lion over the San Fernando Valley. "What the hell is that?" he remembered thinking. "Do I have a problem?" He checked a second in- strument and it was no false alarm. "Before we went, no one had any idea the magnitude of it," Conley said. Rob Jackson, an environ- mental scientist at Stanford University who did not con- tribute to the study, said it was important to have an independent measure of the emissions. The gas company has not publicly reported how much gas it lost, but said in a Se- curities and Exchange Com- mission filing that about 5 billion cubic feet escaped. That is similar to Conley's measurements. The figure is important because the state is draw- ing up a plan for SoCalGas to mitigate the impact of the methane emissions. CALIFORNIA Study: Gas leak was top methane release in US history The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO Califor- nians are starting to fall be- hind the state's mandatory 25-percent water conserva- tion target even though the state remains in drought, state officials said Thurs- day. As of January, water us- ers in California's cities and towns have managed to use 24.8 percent less wa- ter since mandatory conser- vation began last year, the State Water Resources Con- trol Board said. That just misses the level Gov. Jerry Brown had or- dered in what is now the state's fifth year of drought. "Our numbers have slipped rather than plum- meted," water board chair- woman Felicia Marcus said. "Let's just keep it up" on conservation. The latest numbers mark the first time since June that urban Californians have missed the overall mandatory water-conser- vation target. Water officials blamed warmer weather in Janu- ary for urban users' slip- ping in conservation ef- forts, which have included cutting back on watering lawns and stricter en- forcement for wasteful users. For the month of Janu- ary, the conservation rate was 17.1 percent less when compared to the same pe- riod in 2013. That's down from December's savings rate. A strong El Niño weather pattern this year has brought parts of the state up to normal levels of rain and snow, but fallen short of the big storms that state of- ficials say would be needed to bring California out of drought. California cities and towns overall have saved 1.1 million acre feet of wa- ter since January, putting them at 96 percent of an- other state conservation goal. That's enough to sup- ply water to between 1 mil- lion and 2 million house- holds for a year. DROUGHT Californians fall short in water cutbacks DEANMUSGROVE—LOSANGELESDAILYNEWS,FILE Crews work on stopping a gas leak at a relief well at the Aliso Canyon facility above the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles. PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. Thank you! ONLY15MINUTESFROM RED BLUFF. . . DRIVE A LITTLE, SAVE A LOT!! 20804 Front Street • Cottonwood (530) 527-0100 - 347-1024 HOURS: MON.-FRI. 9AM-5:30PM • SAT 9AM-4PM A-Z APPLIANCE YourCompleteDiscountHomeApplianceCenter SAME OR NEXT DAY DELIVERY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2016 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM |NEWS | 7 A