When the Hernandez family bought their house in 2001, they had no idea SoCalGas operated a major natural gas storage facility in the hills behind their home. “We lived a few miles from the facility and we were downwind from the blowout,” Nancy explains. “And when it happened, our family suffered terribly.” 

Her children came down with rashes and her daughter developed a chronic cough. Her son, who has Tourette’s Syndrome, had worsening symptoms that were out of control. “He became a completely different child during the blowout. We went to doctors and they didn’t know what was going on with him,” Nancy recalls. “You know when you feel like you’re about to get hit with the flu? That feeling was constant. I had irritated eyes and a sore throat for months. Sometimes, I would get tingling numbness in my hands and arms, itchy skin, and a sharp chest pain whenever I would take a deep breath. My neighbors were experiencing similar symptoms. We knew it had to be connected to the blowout. If they had warned us of the dangerous toxins the blowout was emitting, we would not have gone outside and would have immediately evacuated.” 

The family relocated in February once evacuation benefits were expanded to include their community, a few miles from the blowout site. But their symptoms continued when they moved back to the neighborhood in May. So after 16 years of living in the house they had started their family — where they had planted their roots— Nancy and her husband Diego packed up their family and moved away. “We had to get rid of everything because it was contaminated from the blowout and start all over.  It was the only way to protect our family,” Nancy says. 

Looking back, Nancy feels the community’s elected officials and government agencies let them down. “There’s so much they could have done to prevent the disaster in the first place. Once they knew about the blowout,  they should have provided us information on how to protect ourselves from the toxic air. Not once did Los Angeles County Department of Public Health instruct us to wear face masks or respirators.”

Nancy feels that fossil fuel infrastructure should not exist near communities. “If they want to continue to store gas, they can figure out how to do it in the middle of the desert or somewhere where it’s 200 miles away from homes and communities. Such a dangerous facility cannot co-exist with communities.”