Massive gas lead near L.A. plugged after 16 weeks

Public health officials blamed their woes on an odorant added to gas so it can be detected and have said they don’t expect long-term health impacts.

At its peak, the leak was estimated to contribute about a quarter of the state’s climate-altering methane emissions, leading some to call it the worst environmental disaster since the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

While the gas was invisible, its impact could be seen in half-vacant subdivisions, two shuttered schools and on the faces of angry residents who packed public meetings and community forums and demanded the Aliso Canyon storage facility be shut down.