Chevron Tanker Bid Approved : Petroleum: Company gets the go-ahead for a controversial plan to transport oil by tanker in the waters off Santa Barbara.

After a decade-long battle pitting Chevron against local officials and environmentalists, the California Coastal Commission has agreed to allow Chevron to use tanker ships to transport oil from its giant Point Arguello oil project off Santa Barbara to Los Angeles.

The commission’s decision means that Chevron tanker traffic could begin as early as late March, with the vessels hugging the environmentally sensitive coastline along Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

Commissioners, in a 7 to 4 vote, set several restrictions in approving Chevron’s permit request during a packed hearing in Santa Monica. Chevron will have to meet a series of deadlines to continue using tankers and must cease all tanker traffic by Jan. 1, 1996. The tankers will have to have double hulls, making them more safe in the event of an accident.

Chevron and its partners in the $2.5-billion offshore oil venture will have to agree on the conditions set by the commission, but approval is likely.

“I would hope we’ve seen the light at the end of the tunnel now,” said C. L. Blackwell, Jr., a general manager for Chevron’s Western region. “It’s a reasonable compromise.”

Another Chevron official said he expects Chevron’s partners, including Phillips Petroleum Co. and Texaco Inc., to accept the permit terms within a couple weeks.

Chevron and its partners currently ship oil from Point Arguello through existing pipelines and in a roundabout route to Northern California and back to Los Angeles. Most of the crude from Point Arguello goes to refineries in Los Angeles.

Environmentalists had wanted Chevron to continue to use existing pipelines until a new onshore pipeline could be built from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles. Several routes for such a pipeline have been proposed but none are yet being constructed.

Opponents of the Chevron permit said they were uncertain what their next step might be.

Lisa Weil, policy director of the Santa Monica-based American Oceans Campaign, said environmental groups will have to discuss whether to fight Chevron’s permit in court. But that option may not be practical, “given our resources in money and time, up against an industry with such deep pockets.”

Sara Wan, vice chairman of the League for Coastal Protection, predicted that the tankers will go through. “I don’t think the environmentalists will have the funds to fight Chevron . . . . But the commission will rue the day they did this.”

Environmentalists and the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors have long feared a tanker spill that would be as devastating as the 1969 Santa Barbara spill, which soiled beaches in the resort city after an offshore oil well explosion.

The commission’s decision would allow Chevron to increase production at Point Arguello from 50,000 barrels a day to 85,000.

Gov. Pete Wilson, in a statement, said: “I applaud the Coastal Commission for taking this courageous stand.” He added that the decision provides “strong, long-term protection for California’s pristine coastline and solid jobs for hundreds of Californians.”

The Santa Barbara County supervisors and environmentalists agreed in 1983 to allow drilling at Point Arguello only after the oil companies promised to build a pipeline to transport the oil to Los Angeles. In the event of an accident, spills from land-based pipelines can be more easily contained than those from ocean-going tankers.

Since then, Chevron has asked to ship oil south in tankers temporarily, while a pipeline is being built.

Opponents have criticized Chevron from shying away from a binding agreement to use a pipeline before it begins using tankers. Pipeline builders say they need such an agreement--guaranteeing adequate oil volume from producers--before they can finance construction.

Wednesday’s decision allows Chevron until Feb. 1, 1994, to sign an agreement to use a pipeline.