Local News in Brief : Caltrans Blocks Pipeline

In a further setback to a project to pipe crude oil under Los Angeles and other Southland cities, the state Department of Transportation has withdrawn its approval of the controversial plan’s permits, Los Angeles City Atty. James Hahn announced Wednesday.

Caltrans attorney David Semmes said that the state agency had acted prematurely last September when it granted encroachment approvals for the proposed 135-mile Angeles Pipeline. The project would transport about 300,000 barrels of oil a day from Kern County to Los Angeles Basin refineries.

Semmes said that the project’s environmental impact study was probably adequate but that the pipeline sponsors need to provide more specific information on precisely where the crude oil conduit would run.

Attorney Ronald Van Buskirk of San Francisco, who represents the consortium of oil companies seeking to build the pipeline, said his clients would probably file an amended application providing the information that Caltrans said it needs.

The Caltrans action served to end at least for the time being several lawsuits challenging the agency’s granting of the pipeline plan, said Assistant City Atty. Edward Dygert. The City of Los Angeles, as well as the cities of Burbank and Glendale, had filed suit against Caltrans’ approval.