Environmental Study to Delay Mobil’s Replacement Pipeline

In a move that will further delay Mobil Oil’s plans to build a pipeline from Kern County to Torrance, federal officials have decided to study the environmental impact of a portion of the line that would run through Angeles National Forest just north of the Santa Clarita Valley.

A final decision on Mobil’s proposal to build the 75-mile-long pipeline will be delayed for at least four more months until September because the 20-mile portion through the national forest will be included in an environmental review being conducted for the city of Los Angeles, said Ken Cude, an engineer in the city’s Department of Transportation.

Neighborhood groups that had urged the city to thoroughly review the project said Wednesday they are pleased that federal officials decided to study its impact on the national forest.

“How can you consider such a pipeline without looking at the effect on the forest and everything else along the length of the entire thing?” asked Wayde Hunter, a spokesman for the North Valley Coalition, an association of Granada Hills residents whose members are concerned about increased traffic and noise during construction.

The project would affect about 15 miles of major streets in the San Fernando Valley, including portions of San Fernando Road, Balboa Boulevard, Rinaldi Street, Woodley Avenue, Victory Boulevard and Sepulveda Boulevard.

The forest’s supervisor, George Roby, decided that the environmental review was necessary to determine if the project would affect endangered plant species or damage previously unknown archeological sites, said Richard Borden, a spokesman for Angeles National Forest.

Borden said the pipeline would be constructed along a two-mile-wide corridor in the park that already contains electrical transmission lines, natural gas conduits and Mobil’s existing pipeline.

He said officials will hold a public meeting in Newhall in March before beginning the study.

When the study is completed, Roby will decide whether to allow Mobil to build the section of the pipeline that crosses the park, Borden said. In the city of Los Angeles, the ultimate decision rests with the Board of Transportation Commissioners, which will hold public hearings, Cude said.

Mobil proposed replacing its aging and leaky line with a new $75-million pipeline after state fire safety officials voiced concern about corrosion in the existing system. The officials cited a series of pipeline accidents, including a spill of 132,000 gallons of oil that poured onto Ventura Boulevard in Encino on Sept. 10, 1988, and a spill of 126,000 gallons of oil and water on Sept. 27, 1988, in Sherman Oaks, a few hundred yards from the earlier spill.