Judge Voids Santa Clarita’s Ban on Power Plant

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled Monday that Tenneco Oil Co. can continue building a controversial power plant in Newhall despite objections from the city of Santa Clarita.

Judge Miriam A. Vogel agreed with Santa Clarita officials who said building permits for the $35-million project were issued by mistake, but Vogel said the company obtained the permits in good faith and should not be penalized for the error.

The city ordered Tenneco to stop work on the $35-million plant Sept. 1, saying four permits were issued in error last spring.

“I appreciate the city’s frustration,” Vogel said. Stopping the project now, however, “seems grossly unfair to me,” she said.

The city and the Placerita Canyon Homeowners Assn. have tried for 11 months to scuttle the plant. Residents contend it will pollute ground water and air, lower property values and disturb the tranquillity of Placerita Canyon.

On Dec. 15, the day Santa Clarita was incorporated, the City Council passed a moratorium preventing construction on the power plant site, an old oil field near Placerita Canyon Road and Sierra Highway.

But a few months later, Los Angeles County, acting on Santa Clarita’s behalf as the new city organized its government, granted the four building permits in violation of the moratorium.

City Atty. Carl K. Newton said in court Monday that county planning officials later acknowledged they were unaware of the moratorium and said they would not have issued the permits had they known about it.

Vogel said she was disturbed that the city waited until September to issue the stop-work order because Tenneco had been constructing the plant since receiving the permits.

Newton responded that the city “did not know of the issuance of the permits till the 30th of August.” The city ordered Tenneco to stop work 2 days later, he said.

Newton also said Tenneco officials never should have requested the permits because they were present when the moratorium was passed and knew it applied to the cogeneration plant. Instead, Tenneco ignored the council’s wishes and asked the county to issue the building permits, he said.

“They just quietly went ahead and tried to start their building,” Newton said.

The judge was not swayed. “I think what happened is an honest-to-goodness mistake,” she said. Vogel said she sympathized with the concerns of residents but said she could not legally justify the city’s stop-work order.

Tenneco attorneys made few remarks during the half-hour court hearing.

Steven R. Charles, Tenneco production engineering supervisor, said after the ruling that Tenneco would soon resume construction and hopes to have the plant operating by late next year.

Newton said the City Council will have to decide whether to appeal Vogel’s order.

Vogel had sided with Tenneco in a court battle once before. The Placerita Canyon Homeowners Assn. and city argued in a lawsuit that the potential environmental hazards of the project had not been studied adequately, but Vogel rejected the argument Feb. 2. That ruling is under appeal.