Hearing Set on Mobil’s Pipeline Plan

Torrance looks set to become the site for environmental debate Tuesday when the city has a public hearing on Mobil Oil Corp.’s plan to replace a pipeline linking its Torrance refinery to oil fields in Kern County.

Despite criticism that the larger-capacity line could cause environmental problems, the plan already has the approval of Los Angeles and Hawthorne--one of three South Bay cities along the proposed route. The other two, Inglewood and Torrance, have yet to grant permits for the work.

In Torrance, officials say they will recommend that the City Council give Mobil permission to build the line. But the project’s main opponent, a citizens group called Coalition Against the Pipeline, plans to argue that work should not go forward until key environmental questions are answered.

The 92-mile, $88-million conduit proposed by Mobil would be capable of carrying 95,000 barrels of crude oil a day--50% more than the current line, which has been plagued by leaks and spills.

The underground pipe would run south through Inglewood, Lennox and part of Hawthorne along Inglewood Avenue, east to Prairie Avenue on 120th Street in Hawthorne, and south on Prairie to Mobil’s refinery in north Torrance.

Officials in the three cities say construction of the line, which in the South Bay would take place this summer, could cause traffic snarls. Mobil has promised to minimize the disruption by boring under major intersections rather than digging open trenches across them.

The citizens coalition, joined by elected officials including U.S. Reps. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) and Mervyn M. Dymally (D-Compton), have argued that the larger-capacity pipeline might allow Mobil to refine more oil.

Mobil argues that the new pipeline will be far less prone to ruptures from corrosion and earthquakes than the current line.