Photo credit: Environmental Defense Fund/YouTube

With no end in sight, it began in late October and still has not been fixed.

The largest natural gas leak ever recorded is occurring right now, and it is jeopardizing the health of thousands of residents in Southern California. Not only is the leak responsible for massive evacuations of people from the town of Porter Ranch, it is the largest environmental disaster since the notorious BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.

The leak began in late October and has been sending 62 million cubic feet of invisible methane into the San Fernando Valley each day. The Environmental Defense Fund, as well as Earthworks, recently released footage of the leak made visible by specialized infrared technology (ITC-certified thermographer) seen in the video above.

The natural gas leak, discovered on October 23 by the Southern California Gas Company in its storage facility in Porter Ranch, is believed to be due to a faulty well casing deep below the surface - around 8,500 feet. Experts that helped stop the BP oil spill leak are working to contain this disaster too, however, it will still take several more months to get to the source and repair the leak. They have to drill down, but must be very careful to avoid igniting the gas causing an explosion.

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So why is this leak considered one of the largest environmental disasters? Although methane is a better and cleaner energy source than coal, it is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (CO2), capable of producing 70 times the warming power of CO2 over a 20 year period. It is one of the gases that countries around the world have been trying to keep out of the atmosphere to combat climate change.

A spokesperson for California’s Air Resources Board told Mashable that the leak is dumping the equivalent of “eight or nine coal plants” worth of methane into our already fragile environment. Not only is this a terrible environmental disaster, it is impacting local residents who are experiencing headaches, trouble breathing (two schools have been relocated for the 2016 semester), as well as chasing thousands of families out of their homes. The FAA has also declared the region a no-fly zone until at least March 2016 so engine sparks do not ignite the highly flammable gas.

Unfortunately there is currently no end in sight to the leak. Since methane is so flammable, work to stop the leak is very slow going, as workers can’t use tools that could create excess sparks, such as lights. This means the crew can only work to stop the leak during daylight hours, according to WIRED. The latest report states the leak will not be fixed until at least February of 2016. By then, who knows how much methane will be emitted into the atmosphere.

This may be the wake-up call countries need to develop safer storage and transportation for methane, or better yet, switch to all renewable energy sources.

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