Economics
The Invisible Spill Spewing the Gases of a Half-Million Cars
- Sempra says gas well in California won't be plugged for months
- Analyst estimates costs may total as much as $900 million
Oil flows toward the ocean from an inland oil spill near Refugio State Beach in California.
Photographer: David McNew/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Call it the invisible spill.
You can’t see it, but it’s there -- a steady stream of natural gas seeping out of the pipe casing in a well in Southern California that may spew as much greenhouse gas into the air as a half-million cars do in a year. Pipeline operator Sempra Energy says it may take three to four months to plug.