Mobil to Begin Pipeline Work Despite Lawsuit

Mobil Oil officials said Wednesday they hope to begin construction of a $90-million oil pipeline under busy city streets in the San Fernando Valley by the end of the month, despite obstacles that remain in the controversial project’s path.

Five cities in the South Bay and Westside have yet to accept the 92-mile pipeline, and a coalition of community groups has filed a lawsuit seeking to block it.

The company obtained permission from the Los Angeles Transportation Commission in April to replace the 26 miles of aging and leaky pipeline that are within city limits. The pipeline carries hot crude oil from Kern County to Torrance.

The project’s prospects were further bolstered last month when the U.S. Forest Service approved construction of a 25-mile section of the line through the Angeles National Forest. Opponents have until July 6 to appeal that decision.

“You can assume we are confident” of prevailing in the courts and of obtaining approval from the cities of Torrance, Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale and Culver City, said Mobil spokesman Jim Carbonetti.

But the Torrance City Council will not approve the project until a suit filed by a coalition of community groups stretching from the Valley to the South Bay is resolved, Torrance Assistant City Atty. William G. Quale said Wednesday.

The suit, which argues that the environmental report on the project is inadequate, is scheduled to be heard Aug. 8 in Los Angeles Superior Court, said Keith W. Pritsker, a Los Angeles deputy city attorney.

However, the suit does not seek an order to prevent the start of construction, which enables Mobil to begin installing the pipeline under Los Angeles streets as soon as the city Department of Transportation and members of the City Council approve the company’s traffic-management plan, Pritsker said.

Construction could begin late this month or in early July after council members whose districts will be affected by the project finish reviewing Mobil’s traffic-management plan, said Tom Jones, a Los Angeles transportation official.

The pipeline will run beneath major city streets in the Valley--including Balboa Boulevard, Woodley Avenue and Sepulveda Boulevard--en route to a Mobil refinery on Prairie Avenue in Torrance.

During the 18-month construction period, the project is expected to cause bumper-to-bumper traffic or gridlock at some major intersections along the route for up to three weeks, along with noise and reduced access to cross streets. Construction will occur on at least three, 1,000-foot stretches at a time. The first Valley construction location has not been determined, Jones said.

Mobil will distribute notices to residents and business owners near each construction site before the work begins, Carbonetti said. The company will also advertise the locations in newspapers, he said.