County Backs Power Plant for Newhall Over Protests

Despite opposition from an official of the recently approved City of Santa Clarita and local property owners, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday paved the way for construction of a $35-million power plant in Placerita Canyon.

Carl Newton, acting city attorney for Santa Clarita, urged the supervisors to let the future city decide whether another power plant in Newhall made sense. If the supervisors had postponed the vote, jurisdiction automatically would have been transferred to Santa Clarita when it officially becomes a city on Dec. 15.

But representatives of Tenneco Oil Co., which plans to build the gas-burning plant, said further delay by the county might jeopardize their plans. After the public hearing, Tenneco’s attorneys said they did not want the new city to determine the project’s fate because the planning process would have to start from scratch.

Tenneco wants to build a power plant, near the intersection of Placerita Canyon Road and Sierra Highway, that would produce steam and electricity for oil-field use and sale to Southern California Edison Co. The cogeneration plant would be built on the site of an old oil field. It would be landscaped to hide all but 60-foot-high smokestacks, Tenneco says. The closest homes are about half a mile away.

Final Vote Dec. 8

The board tentatively approved the power plant on a 5-0 vote. The final vote, considered a formality, was scheduled for Dec. 8.

In urging his colleagues to approve the project, Supervisor Mike Antonovich said it is not the county’s policy to postpone zoning decisions until new cities are in business. He also said that the vote would not preclude Santa Clarita from deciding the fate of the project.

However, the Santa Clarita City Council would be powerless to stop the Tenneco project if the company obtains a building permit and begins construction during the week following the board’s expected approval Dec. 8, said Gerald F. Crump, chief assistant county counsel. But if Tenneco has not broken ground by the council’s first meeting on Dec. 15, the project’s fate could be decided by the council, Crump said.

Further complicating the matter, Michael McEntee, attorney for the Placerita Canyon Property Owners Assn., warned the supervisors he plans to file a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court to prevent the county from issuing a building permit for the project. He represents homeowners who fear that the plant’s emissions of nitrogen oxides and other pollutants will only worsen the already poor quality of air trapped in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Vote Called Premature

McEntee argued that the county’s vote was “entirely premature” because it could take Tenneco two years to obtain approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“It would be an abuse of discretion not to leave the . . . decision up to the city of Santa Clarita,” McEntee said.

Tenneco officials, however, denied that they would need EPA approval. They obtained a permit from the South Coast Air Quality Management District after agreeing to reduce pollutants at other sites in the Los Angeles basin by 2 1/2 times the amount to be released in Placerita Canyon. In addition, Tenneco agreed to cut pollutant levels at the nearby Newhall Oil Refinery by an amount that would exceed the pollutants created by producing electricity at the cogeneration plant.

“Our project will have a positive impact on aesthetics and air pollution,” said Jerry L. Kelly, Tenneco project manager.

But property owners were unimpressed by Tenneco’s concessions. They argued that there is already one cogeneration plant in the area and another under construction. A consultant hired by homeowners concluded that a third plant could create serious smog and acid rain problems in the valley.

Bonnie Sir Kegian, a property owner, accused the board of being unfair.

“You wouldn’t let monks have a building . . . because their bell rang and they prayed at midnight,” she said. “I’m talking about a plant that emits pollutants. I don’t understand.”