Los Angeles prosecutors filed criminal charges against the Southern California Gas company on Tuesday over a huge methane gas leak that has forced thousands of Los Angeles residents from their homes since October. The four misdemeanor charges accuse SoCalGas, a division of San Diego-based Sempra Energy, of failing to report the release of hazardous materials from Oct. 23 to Oct. 26, 2015 following the underground pipeline rupture and discharging air contaminants beginning on Oct. 23, 2015, to the present. “While we recognize that neither the criminal charges nor the civil lawsuits will offer the residents of Los Angeles County a complete solution, it is important that Southern California Gas Co. be held responsible for its criminal actions,” District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a written statement. If convicted, the company could be fined up to $25,000 a day for each day that it failed to notify the California Office […]