多里安·皮内达 洛杉矶 —— 美国历史上最大已知甲烷泄漏事件的数百万美元和解金现已可供受影响居民使用，用于将燃气设备更换为电动设备。参与资金分配的组织表示，这将有助于打造更安全、更清洁的家庭环境。
DORANY PINEDA LOS ANGELES — Millions of dollars of settlement money from the largest known methane leak in the United States are now available to affected residents to replace gas-powered appliances with electric ones. Organizations involved in distributing the money say it will help create safer and cleaner homes.
此次公告释出了阿利索峡谷和解协议中首批2000万美元的激励资金，旨在帮助受2015年洛杉矶地区喷发事故影响的住宅和建筑业主。总体而言，该计划将提供4000万美元，帮助人们安装既能制冷又能供暖的热泵、电磁炉、热水器及其他电器。
The announcement makes available the first $20 million in incentive funding from the Aliso Canyon settlement to help home and building owners impacted by the 2015 Los Angeles-area blowout. In total, the program will make $40 million available to help people install heat pumps that cool and heat homes, electric stoves, water heaters and other appliances.
伊万·卡梅伊是协助分配和解金的州级项目“TECH Clean California”的主任。他表示，这些激励措施“将有助于创造更健康的家庭、降低能源成本、提供制冷功能，并通过将老旧燃气设备更换为高效电动设备来创造本地就业岗位。”受影响区域内的独栋住宅业主均有资格申请激励，符合收入条件的特定居民还可获得额外资助。多房产业主的申请通道将稍后开放。
Evan Kamei is the director of TECH Clean California, a state program helping distribute the settlement money. He said the incentives “will help create healthier homes, lower energy costs, deliver cooling, and create local jobs by replacing aging gas appliances with efficient electric appliances.”Anyone in the affected area with a single-family home will be eligible for the incentives, and certain income-qualifying residents will be eligible for extra funding. Access for multi-property owners will come later.
阿利索峡谷天然气泄漏历时近四个月才得到控制，导致数千个家庭身体不适，并迫使他们离开圣费尔南多谷附近的家园，以躲避刺鼻的硫磺味以及头痛、恶心、流鼻血等症状。
The Aliso Canyon gas leak took nearly four months to control, sickened thousands of families and forced them from their homes near the San Fernando Valley to escape a sulfurous stench and maladies including headaches, nausea and nose bleeds.
一口天然气储气井发生故障，在100多天内不受控制地向大气释放了近10万吨甲烷及其他物质。甲烷是一种强效的温室气体，通过气候变化加剧全球极端天气事件。涉事天然气设施在喷发后曾暂时关闭，后经认定可安全运行，以减产状态重新开放。
The natural gas storage well failed and uncontrollably released nearly 100,000 tons of methane and other substances into the atmosphere for more than 100 days. Methane is a potent, heat-trapping gas that contributes to extreme weather events worldwide through climate change. The natural gas facility involved in the blowout temporarily closed and later reopened at reduced capacity after being deemed safe to operate.
2021年，数千个家庭与南加州天然气公司及其母公司森普拉能源达成和解，和解金额高达18亿美元。约3.5万名原告因人身伤害和房屋财产损失获得赔偿。南加州天然气公司在该泄漏事故上花费超过10亿美元，其中大部分资金用于临时安置8000个家庭。
In 2021, thousands of families reached a settlement of up to $1.8 billion with the Southern California Gas Co. and its parent company, Sempra Energy. Some 35,000 plaintiffs were compensated after complaining of personal injury and property damage to their homes. SoCalGas spent more than $1 billion on the blowout, with most of the money going to temporarily relocate 8,000 families.
韦尔登·肯尼迪是加利福尼亚初创公司Copper的联合创始人兼首席营销官，该公司销售电磁感应炉灶和烤箱。他表示，在能源解决方案公司指出让人们将烹饪电器从燃气改为电力有多么困难后，他的公司参与了分配和解金的项目。
Weldon Kennedy is the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Copper, a California startup that sells electric induction stoves and ovens. He said his company got involved with the program to distribute settlement money after the group Energy Solutions highlighted how hard it would be to get people to switch their cooking appliances from gas to electric.
肯尼迪说：“在烹饪方面，人们对燃气有一种文化依恋。”Copper销售的这类电器可能有助于缓解这种依恋，因为它们可以插在普通插座上使用，无需承担通常从燃气电器改为电器所涉及的重新布线费用。
“People have a cultural attachment to gas when it comes to cooking,” Kennedy said. The kind of appliances Copper sells may help mitigate that attachment because they can be plugged into a regular outlet without the expense of rewiring that is usually associated with switching from gas-powered appliances to electric ones.
使用电力烹饪具有健康益处。燃气灶为4700万美国人所使用，会释放二氧化氮等污染物，这与哮喘有关，还会释放致癌物苯。
Cooking with electricity comes with health benefits. Gas stoves, which 47 million Americans use, release pollutants like nitrogen dioxide that’s been linked to asthma and cancer-causing benzene.
电器产品是解决烹饪、供暖制冷及建筑供热水产生的大量导致气候变化污染的一种途径。
Products like electric appliances are one way to address the significant amount of pollution driving climate change that comes from cooking, heating and cooling living spaces and providing hot water in buildings.
受阿利索峡谷泄漏事故影响的合格收入居民，有资格获得高达31800美元的激励金，用于支付家庭电气化安装费用。从燃气改用电力可以节约能源并降低账单。
Income-qualified residents affected by the Aliso leak are eligible for up to $31,800 worth of incentives to cover the cost of electric installations in their homes. Switching from gas to electricity can save energy and lower bills.
72岁的Carol Kamei是Evan Kamei的母亲，在阿利索峡谷天然气储存设施附近居住了46年，也是起诉南加州燃气公司案件的原告之一。她记得曾闻到燃气味并出现流鼻血症状。当她在新闻中得知泄漏还在喷射致癌物苯时，她意识到是时候离开了。
Carol Kamei, Evan Kamei’s 72-year-old mother, has lived for 46 years near the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Facility and was one of the plaintiffs in the case against SoCal Gas. She remembers smelling gas and getting nose bleeds. When she read in the news that the leak was also spewing cancer-causing benzene, she knew it was time to go.
Carol Kamei表示，搬到好莱坞与姐姐同住三个月后，她的流鼻血症状消失了。她最近参加了加州大学洛杉矶分校的一项健康研究，发现自己肺活量下降，她说这是研究人员关注的健康影响之一。
Carol Kamei said her nose bleeds went away after moving in with her sister in Hollywood for three months. She recently participated in a health study by the University of California, Los Angeles and found out she has diminished lung capacity, one of the health impacts researchers look for, she said.
“从那以后，我确实认识一些因血液系统疾病、癌症去世的人，”Carol Kamei说。
“I do know some people that have died from blood-borne illnesses, cancer since then,” Carol Kamei said.
Kamei希望利用激励资金将烤箱更换为电烤箱。“我宁愿不用燃气，”她说。
Kamei hopes to use the incentive funding to replace her oven with an electric one. “I’d rather not use gas,” she said.
美联社在水资源和环境政策报道方面获得沃尔顿家族基金会的支持。
The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The