3. The Montebello Assets

SoCalGas seeks authority, under § 851, to decommission Montebello and salvage or sell all the assets which comprise the natural gas storage facility. This process, estimated to take up to 7 years, would begin with the withdrawal of approximately 3 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of working gas, followed by the recovery and sale of approximately 23 Bcf of cushion gas and then, complete decommissioning of the site. While SoCalGas estimates that gas withdrawals will continue for another four to five years (through at least 2005), about 21 Bcf, or 75% of the cushion gas, can be recovered by the end of 2002. The final decommissioning would include abandonment of most injection, recovery and monitoring wells and salvage and/or demolition of equipment, buildings and other site improvements. Ultimately, SoCalGas would sell the land, itself, which with one exception lies within the north-central part of the City of Montebello. The real property consists of the following: the Main Facility - 29 acres (a small portion of this site lies within the City of Monterey Park); the East Site - 11 acres; and 14 individual building lots, known as the "Townsite Lots", which are distributed within a 4,000-foot radius of the facility.