LOS ANGELES (CN) – After a massive methane gas leak at SoCalGas’s Aliso Canyon underground gas storage facility displaced thousands of families and took more than 100 days to plug, many residents in surrounding neighborhoods felt the energy company had gotten off lightly with a $4 million fine and tightened outside oversight.

But now Southern California Gas, a subsidiary of energy giant Sempra, says Los Angeles County’s attempts to prevent another environmental disaster of that scale go too far.

In a federal lawsuit filed against Los Angeles County and state regulators on Wednesday, SoCalGas claims that the county’s attempts to impose stricter safety standards on its pipelines and underground storage facilities violate a federal law called the Pipeline Safety Act, or PSA.

“Defendants include a state agency and a county that are attempting to impose and enforce safety standards for SoCalGas’ natural gas pipeline facilities, including SoCalGas’ underground gas storage facilities. Defendants’ actions violate the PSA, which expressly preempts all state and local safety standards for natural gas pipeline facilities and precludes state and local authorities from imposing or enforcing safety standards on natural gas pipeline facilities except as permitted under federal law,” the 25-page lawsuit states.

According to SoCalGas, only the California Public Utilities Commission has the authority under federal law to regulate the energy company’s facilities, and the company says that it is in compliance with the regulations the agency imposes.

The county and defendant California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health, on the other hand, have no such authority to regulate the company, according to the filing.

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Courthouse News Service – Matt Reynolds – 07/13/2017