Pipeline Plan Links L.A. With Point Arguello

In the latest effort to find a mechanism acceptable to oil companies and environmentalists for transporting oil from the Point Arguello offshore project to Southland refineries, Southern Pacific Transportation Co. on Thursday proposed construction of a 171-mile pipeline between Gaviota and southern Los Angeles County.

The $190-million pipeline would follow railroad rights of way and major highways along the Santa Barbara County coastline, across the heart of Ventura County and through the San Fernando Valley, carrying up to 130,000 barrels of oil a day to refineries in Manhattan Beach and Long Beach.

Railroad officials said they have contacted the state Public Utilities Commission and Caltrans to start the lengthy process of preparing an environmental impact report and gaining state approval for the project, which could be completed in 1995.

According to Norman L. Rooney, president of Pacific Pipeline Co., a Southern Pacific affiliate, the company has been studying the project since last summer, at the request of Chevron Corp. and the other oil companies involved in the Point Arguello project.

“We haven’t just given this a cursory look,” Rooney said. “We’ve looked at this at great depth, and we feel this is the most logical and environmentally sound alternative.”

Since oil was discovered at the Point Arguello offshore site a decade ago, local officials, environmentalists and project sponsors have battled over how to transport the heavy crude to refineries.

In November, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, wary of a major oil spill, rejected a request by Chevron to move oil from the project by double-hulled tankers to refineries in Southern California.

Reaction was more positive to Southern Pacific’s plan, which could reduce the number of tankers leaving offshore Santa Barbara oil rigs by about 50 a year.

“We’re in favor of pipeline transportation,” said Bill Douros, Santa Barbara County’s deputy director of energy. “It has fewer environmental impacts, and it would offer a new avenue to Los Angeles. We’re hopeful they are able to pull it off.”

Separately, Chevron released results of a study critical of a plan favored by Santa Barbara County that would move Point Arguello crude through Kern County to Los Angeles through existing pipelines.