Council Approves Mobil Pipeline Construction : Environment: The agreement includes safety conditions, fines for excess oil flow. The city was the last agency along the route to OK the project.

The Culver City Council voted 4 to 1 Monday to grant Mobil Oil Corp. a franchise agreement to build and operate a pipeline in Culver City. The municipality of 38,000 was the last agency along the $88-million pipeline route to approve the project.

The 95-mile, state-of-the-art pipeline will replace an aging line that extends from oil fields in Kern County to the Mobil refinery in Torrance.

But council members attached one condition to the approval: Mobil must agree to install a shut-off valve at the northern border of the city, where oil enters the pipeline. In case of an emergency, the logic goes, the valve would minimize the amount of oil spilled.

Once that agreement is signed into the list of 28 mitigation measures already settled upon, Mobil can close nine months of negotiations with the city.

“Culver City was extremely thorough in their analysis,” said Jim Carbonetti, spokesman for Mobil. “I can’t criticize them for that. . . . They listen to their citizens.”

Carbonetti said he is confident Mobil officials will approve the valve demand within the required 10 days of the council action.

Even if agreement is reached next week, construction will not begin until mid-January, Carbonetti said. It will take about five weeks to lay the 2.7-mile stretch of pipe.

Being the last agency to give approval for the pipeline apparently helped Culver City win concessions.

While some cities limited the pipeline’s flow to 95,000 barrels of crude oil a day, Culver City took an extra step--a 10-cent-per-barrel fine for each barrel over 95,000, and 25 cents for each barrel over 100,000.

Exceeding the daily average flow would also be grounds for revoking the franchise, as would leaks and spills.

Other concessions include a system to handle claims by private and public parties resulting from construction and operation of the pipeline. Mobil would pay up front for arbitration proceedings. Prevailing parties would win attorney fees.

Mobil agreed to take over any lawsuits filed against the city regarding the pipeline, and will pay for an independent engineer to oversee pipeline construction and mitigation measures.

Although the concessions were the most stringent given to any agency, they were not enough for Councilman Steven Gourley, who was outvoted in his quest for more.

Gourley said a basic mistrust of oil companies prompted him to ask for a panel of independent experts to advise council members on safety matters. He also wanted an independent engineer, paid for by Mobil, who would patrol the pipeline.

“I think it’s clear that the other cities who looked at this didn’t do their job,” he said. “All these safeguards should have been done every step of the way.”

A lawsuit filed by Coalition Against the Pipeline, composed of Southern California community groups and individuals, does not appear to concern Mobil.

The lawsuit charges that the environmental impact report for the project was inadequate. A superior court judge upheld the environmental report, but CAP appealed. The appeal hearing was Sept. 24. A decision will be handed down within 90 days.

Mobil chose to go ahead with the pipeline, which is now 90% complete, Carbonetti said.