"The three-month natural gas leak that chased thousands of Los Angeles residents from their homes has been a major ecological disaster, sickening neighbors and pumping a potent greenhouse gas into the sky.

But every day, pipelines across California leak tons of the same gas — methane — into the air. And the total amount collectively leaked each year likely exceeds the vast volume of methane spewed from the Aliso Canyon blowout near Porter Ranch, according to one state estimate.

Most of the leaks are small, even tiny. But many have been seeping for years, deemed too insignificant by the utility companies to warrant an immediate fix."

David R. Baker reports for the San Francisco Chronicle February 14, 2016. [2]