Power Plant Won’t Add to Pollution, Study Finds

A power plant under construction in Newhall, vigorously opposed by neighbors and the Santa Clarita city government, will not pollute the air or contaminate the local water supply, an environmental study said Thursday.

The inch-thick study, commissioned by the Santa Clarita City Council, also said the plant would not produce significant noise or odors. The power plant is near an active earthquake fault, but even a severe quake probably would not cause any environmental damage, the study said.

The study must be approved by the Santa Clarita City Council, which will review it Tuesday night. Representatives from ARCO Oil and Gas Co., which is building the plant, will be present to explain their plans for the controversial facility.

$35-Million Project

Both the City Council and the Placerita Canyon Property Owners Assn. have tried to scuttle the $35-million project for more than a year.

The property owners group filed suit against the project last year, alleging that Los Angeles County erred by not requiring a full environmental impact report when it granted a conditional-use permit to build the plant in December, 1987. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled against the property owners, who appealed the ruling.

The plant was designed both to recover residual oil from an old field and to generate electricity. ARCO plans to pump steam into the ground to soften and force to the surface an estimated 30 million barrels of oil. Excess steam would power electrical generators.

City Council members and Placerita Canyon homeowners have said the plant could pollute the air and water. The noise of the plant’s whirring turbines, they charged, would disrupt the tranquillity of the canyon community.

Offered to Pay

To relieve these concerns, ARCO offered to pay for the $25,000 study in February. ARCO also agreed to let the city select the consulting firm, Harmsworth Associates of Laguna Hills, which performed the study.

ARCO assumed control of the project when it purchased Tenneco Oil Co. last year.

The report reviewed past studies of the proposed plant and found the project environmentally sound. Negative impacts, the report said, could be addressed through modifications of the plant.

Although the plant will produce some noise, the impact is insignificant because the nearest residence is 2,000 feet away, the study said. Bright lighting at the plant can be reduced or directed away from nearby residential areas, the study added.

Except for nitrogen oxides, all airborne pollutants produced by the plant will fall below the levels established as acceptable by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the study said.

The impact of the extra nitrogen oxides in the area will be offset by an anticipated reduction in these same pollutants at the nearby Newhall Refinery, the study said.

The City Council has tried to block the plant since Santa Clarita incorporated Dec. 15, 1987. One of the council’s first acts was to pass a moratorium outlawing construction on the power plant site, near Placerita Canyon Road and Sierra Highway.

But the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, unaware of the moratorium, granted Tenneco permits to begin construction.

The city did not discover the error until August, 1988, and ordered Tenneco to stop work Sept. 1, when the plant had been half completed. In January, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge threw out the city’s stop-work order, ruling that the company should not be penalized for the administrative error by the county.

ARCO is now rushing to complete the plant before permits expire for the project in November. Company officials have estimated that $100 million could be lost if the plant is not completed in time.