Homeowners Upset by Building of Pipeline

Homeowners are angry because a 7.5-mile natural-gas pipeline under construction from Culver City to Brentwood was approved without public discussion or an environmental assessment, even though the line is near two earthquake faults, according to critics.

The 36-inch-diameter pipe, the largest available for moving natural gas, will provide a crucial link in the 40,000 miles of pipes that supply natural gas to Southern Californians, said Norma Gonzales, western division district manager for the Southern California Gas Co., which is building the line.

Construction has been under way since early August and completion is scheduled by early December, Gonzales said. She said the gas company was not legally required to hold a hearing or prepare an environmental impact report.

The pipeline, which will back up an existing line connecting the Westside with the San Fernando Valley, will start at a gas-company compressor station at Inglewood and Jefferson boulevards near Culver City and go north along McLaughlin and Barrington avenues to San Vicente Boulevard and Burlingame Avenue in Brentwood.

The Westdale Homeowners Assn. in Mar Vista and the Mar Vista Del Rey Homeowners and Neighbors Assn. argue that the line could leak dangerous levels of natural gas in the event of a major earthquake.

They have expressed alarm because the line will run only a few miles east of two faults: the Charnock, which extends from Inglewood to Westwood, and the northern section of the Newport-Inglewood, which runs from West Los Angeles to Newport Beach.

Representatives of both groups are looking into whether officials acted improperly in approving the pipeline without a public hearing or environmental impact report, which are required for most large projects needing city approval.

“We’ve got a major transportation line going through a community of 900 homes,” said Fred Wasson, Westdale Homeowners Assn. president. “The earthquake is still on everybody’s minds.”

That Oct. 1 quake, which measured 6.1 on the Richter scale and caused more than $213 million in damage, also caused a small leak in a natural gas line and sparked five minor fires when natural gas leaked near hookups to appliances, Gonzales said. None of the leaks caused major damage or injuries.

“The design of the line is such that we didn’t have any problems in the past and we don’t anticipate them,” she said. “That doesn’t mean that, if we get an 8-point something, that everything’s going to be in place.”

Gonzales said the gas company’s franchise with the city does not require it to hold public hearings or provide environmental impact reports when it builds gas lines, although it must obtain routine construction permits.

The franchise states that “a utility has the right to install natural gas pipelines and facilities in public streets, roadways, alleys and other public ways in exchange for providing natural gas service to its customers in the area.”