High levels of uranium, lithium and a synthetic chemical used to make plastics were present in the urine and hair samples of residents who live near the site of the massive 2015 Aliso Canyon natural gas leak, according to results released Saturday by a local physician.

The long-awaited, independent health study by Dr. Jeffrey Nordella, who practiced in Porter Ranch, showed a pattern of symptoms from patients he followed and tested just after the leak was capped in February 2016 and then months later, up until this year.

More than 300 people packed the Hilton Hotel in Woodland Hills to listen to Nordella’s presentation, and many gasped as he showed them charts with patterns of substances that he found in hair and urine of patients he had tested and followed, including styrene, a derivative of benzene, which is a known carcinogen. Chronic exposure to styrene leads to tiredness and lethargy, memory deficits, headaches and vertigo. Nordella also said:

Of 106 patients whose urine was tested, 31 percent had a presence of styrene at higher than average levels.

Of the first 51 patients Nordella followed just after the gas leak, 34 percent experienced nosebleeds. Of the 72 he followed months after the leak was capped, 31 percent — nearly the same number — still experienced nosebleeds.

In 26 homes, lithium was detected in the LADWP water supply, while in non-LADWP water, there were no detectable levels of lithium.

While urine samples showed elevated levels of styrene and ethylbenzene, hair samples revealed uranium, which can be naturally occurring, but was higher in Porter Ranch residents, and lithium. Nordella said the results of the hair samples “were statistically significant when compared to averages in the rest of California as well as the United States” which he added supported evidence of patients’ long-term exposure.

“You are different,” he told the crowd, explaining he could tell overall exposure levels were high in Porter Ranch by comparing lab tests from people in Porter Ranch to normal levels of people from elsewhere in California and in the United States.

RELATED STORY: LA doctor sounds alarm over effects of Aliso Canyon gas leak

Ashley Hall, of Porter Ranch, talks about her daughter’s health condition at a town hall to discuss findings in the aftermath of the Aliso Canyon methane leak. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Dr. Jeffrey Nordella on Saturday, Oct. 14 presents the findings of a health study he conducted on residents of Porter Ranch exposed to the methane leak there. Nordella spoke at the Hilton Woodland Hills in Woodland Hills. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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More than 300 people listen as Dr. Jeffrey Nordella presents his findings on the health of around 100 Porter Ranch residents following the methane gas leak there detected Oct. 23, 2015. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Dr. Jeffrey Nordella details numbers of people among those he studied after the Aliso Canyon methane gas leak. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

“You are different,” Dr. Jeffrey Nordella told his audience Saturday, Oct. 14, speaking of the Porter Ranch residents exposed to methane gas from a leak at a Aliso Canyon storage facility. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)



Marianna Mihovics, from left, of Porter Ranch, Deirdre Bolona of Porter Ranch, Jane Fowler of Granada Hills and others listen as Dr. Jeffrey Nordella presents his findings on the health of Porter Ranch residents he studied. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Dr. Jeffrey Nordella held a town hall Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Hilton Woodland Hills in Woodland Hills to present findings of his studies of Porter Ranch residents exposed to the gas leak from the Aliso Canyon storage facility. (Photo by John McCoy/Los Angeles Daily News (SCNG)

The results come two years after 100,000 metric tons of methane spewed from one of 115 aged wells above Porter Ranch, which sickened thousands of people and forced them to temporarily leave their homes in the northwestern San Fernando Valley. While the leak was deemed unprecedented, no one can point to past studies or research on the health effects of such an exposure to answer residents’ lingering health questions.

Nordella said different patients were exposed to different levels for different times, and it won’t be clear how people are affected unless researchers follow them for at least three to five years.

He criticized the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health for not demanding that physicians in the surrounding areas conduct toxicology tests and said that’s why he performed his own tests. Instead, the department focused on air samples and more than a month after the gas leak was capped, tested dust samples inside homes, where officials found evidence of metals that were consistent with those found at the natural gas well that blew out near their neighborhood.

At the time, public health officials said none of the chemicals in the dust were at levels of concern. Health agency officials were not immediately available to comment Saturday.

RELATED STORY: Metals found in dust of Porter Ranch homes linked to post-leak symptoms

Nordella said he had the water in Porter Ranch homes tested too, and the results were released by an independent lab two days ago.

The doctor said it was unclear why lithium was present, but long exposure can cause dementia, he said. He told the crowd not to panic, however, since it was unclear if the lithium came from the gas leak.

“We don’t know the source, or the duration of presence, of the lithium in the LADWP drinking water,” Nordella said, quoting his study. “We clearly do not know the health impact of the lithium at this time. In regards to the lithium in the water, further investigation needs to be pursued to know the complete health impacts.”

A message seeking comment was left with the LADWP on Nordella’s assertions about the water.

Many in the crowd were angry as they heard the results, and disappointed that no government agency had moved fast enough to protect them.

“This is outrageous,” said Kelly Browne, who was raised in Porter Ranch, and whose mother was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. “They think we can make up a headache. They think we can make up a nosebleed.”

In July, state oil and gas regulators approved resuming injections at 39 of wells at Aliso Canyon, despite public protest and a warning revealed in Los Angles County court documents by a former SoCalGas manager over potential “catastrophic loss of life” in the event of a Santa Susana fault line shift.

The California Public Utilities Commission and the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources or DOGGR announced that the Southern California Gas Co., operator of the wells, had worked to secure that the underground storage facility was safe to resume limited gas injections to avoid energy shortages in Los Angeles.

RELATED STORY: Gas injections resume at Aliso Canyon more than 20 months after massive leak

Chris Gilbride, a spokesman for SoCalGas, said Saturday his agency had net yet viewed the health study, but said there were multiple other studies conducted that showed no long-term risk to public health.

“The leak at Aliso Canyon ended more than a year and a half ago,” he said in a statement. “During the leak and for months afterwards, thousands of air, soil, and dust samples were tested by multiple public health agencies. Los Angeles County health officials also performed an indoor assessment that tested for some 250 substances. All of data collected and analyzed by public health experts have shown there was and is no long-term risk to public health or safety.”

State Sen. Henry Stern told the audience that Aliso Canyon should not have been reopened because of pending safety reviews. He laid blame on Gov. Jerry Brown, who he said had the power to shut the wells down for good.

“Gov. Brown has all the authority he needs to shut down the facility now,” Stern said. “He should shut down Aliso Canyon now and forever. The fact is, we don’t know what chemicals were released in that leak.”

“This ongoing health disaster underscores Governor Brown must take swift action and decommission the Aliso Canyon storage facility,” said Alexandra Nagy, senior organizer with Food & Water Watch. The group plans to hold a rally on Oct. 23, the two year anniversary of when the leak began.

“Thousands of lives are at stake and are continuing to be sacrificed for SoCalGas profits,” she added.

Attorney R. Rex Perris, who is defending many of the residents in a lawsuit and who also is mayor Lancaster, agreed that the chemicals found prove that there was negligence.

“What we’ve discovered is much worse than we thought,” he said. “What (Nordella’s) telling us is a horror show.”

Nordella said there was enough evidence to continue testing people in the Porter Ranch area as well as beyond, into the San Fernando Valley.

“As a treating physician, I am concerned about disclosure,” Nordella added. “There is an abundance of information to strongly support the need for a comprehensive, independent, long-term health study from toxin exposures of the SS-25 well blow out. Otherwise, it is scientifically irresponsible to ignore the facts and allow the continued operation of Aliso Canyon Gas Storage Field.”