Mobil Agrees to $85,000 Fine for Spills

State water quality officials have recommended that Mobil Oil pay an $85,000 fine for two 1988 pipeline breaks that poured more than 200,000 gallons of oil and water onto San Fernando Valley streets, ultimately contaminating sewage treatment plants and sensitive environmental areas.

Mobil spokesman Jim Carbonetti said the oil company will not contest the fine. Mobil announced Monday that it intends to spend up to $75 million to replace 75 miles of the line, in part because of the 1988 breaks.

In recommending the fine, the staff of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board said Mobil could have reduced the large volumes that were released if the company had installed more shut-off valves on the pipeline. The recommendation noted that Mobil had failed to install additional shut-off valves despite warnings after a similar-sized release in 1973.

Close Together

The 1988 ruptures, which were caused by corrosion, took place a few hundred yards apart.

* On Sept. 10, 132,000 gallons of San Joaquin Valley crude oil poured onto Ventura Boulevard in Encino, covering sidewalks, driveways and automobiles and seeping into storm drains.

* On Sept. 27, the line broke again--in Sherman Oaks--while Mobil was conducting a pressure test on it. About 126,000 gallons of water and oil emptied onto the street.

“Both discharges resulted in a condition of nuisance and pollution through the temporary closure of several surface streets, the oiling of streets, driveways and approximately 34 miles of Los Angeles River, contamination of an estimated seven miles of wildlife habitat and the death of at least 33 waterfowl and over 200 fish,” the recommendation says.

In addition, the oil affected operations at the Hyperion and Los Angeles-Glendale sewage treatment plants, according to the water quality penalty report.

The shut-off valves on the section of the line that broke were 4 1/2 miles apart.

Earlier Spill

In the penalty recommendation, water quality staff cited a 1973 release in Westwood that sent 84,000 gallons of oil into Ballona Creek, which was also attributed to corrosion in an aging line, and wrote that Mobil had saved a considerable amount of money by failing to install more valves.

Although a fine as large as $2.6 million was possible, the staff recommended a lower penalty because Mobil reacted quickly and effectively to the spills. Water quality officials noted that Mobil spent $3 million for the cleanup.

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board will conduct a hearing on the matter Sept. 25, the same day the Los Angeles Board of Transportation will vote on Mobil’s proposal to replace the 75 miles of pipeline.

The pipeline, whose segments range in age from 2 to 50 years, carries 63,000 barrels of heated crude oil a day at pressures of up to 1,300 pounds per square inch. It stretches 150 miles from Belridge to Mobil’s refinery in Torrance.