Massive gas leak plugged; residents seek return to normal

Public health officials blamed symptoms on an odorant added to gas so it can be detected and have said they don't expect long-term health effects.

At its peak, the leak was estimated to contribute about a quarter of the state's climate-altering methane emissions, leading some to call it the worst environmental disaster since the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

While the gas was invisible, its impact could be seen in half-vacant subdivisions, two shuttered schools and on the faces of angry residents who packed public meetings and community forums and demanded the Aliso Canyon storage facility be shut down.

Word that the leak had been controlled for the first time was met with a good deal of skepticism and a fear of returning to unhealthy homes or a repeat incident.

"Because this one well we know about is shut down, it doesn't indicate anything about the rest of the facility," said Matt Pakucko, president of Save Porter Ranch, a group advocating to shutter the facility.

Hotel dwellers will have eight days to return home once it is sealed, while those in apartments and rentals houses can stay through the end of short-term leases they signed.