On July 14, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said it had rejected Southern California Gas Co.'s (SoCalGas) request to build its North-South Pipeline project, which would have consisted of a new natural gas pipeline between the town of Adelanto, Calif., and the Moreno pressure limiting station, according to the CPUC..

The regulatory agency said it rejected the project as "there are more cost-effective alternatives for supporting the utility's southern natural gas system."

The leak at the Aliso Canyon underground gas storage facility, which began in 2015 and was back under control in February, left little stored gas available to support deliveries on the southern system. This reduces the value of such a project, particularly in light of lower-cost alternatives, according to the regulator.

A pipeline rupture, detected on Oct. 23, 2015, was not plugged until mid-February and was ranked as the largest methane release in U.S. history, equivalent to the annual greenhouse-gas emissions of nearly 600,000 cars, researchers found.