Anxiety in the Pipeline : Some South Bay Residents Object to Proposal to Build Another Underground Oil Line to Refineries

The yard-high metal posts along Alameda Street in Wilmington are dwarfed by the surrounding industrial landscape of steel smokestacks, holding tanks and factories. But the posts mark a vital resource for South Bay oil refineries--underground pipelines that feed the refineries with hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude every day.

Several underground oil pipelines currently carry crude beneath Alameda. Under a proposal scheduled to be put to public hearings this week, another major line would be built to link offshore oil fields near Santa Barbara to local refineries.

Some South Bay residents object to the project, saying it would bolster the sort of hazardous and pollution-prone industry the region is already having a hard time living with. They worry about pipeline ruptures from earthquakes or train derailments, resulting fires, explosions or toxic fumes, and air pollution from construction of the pipeline.

“It’s just more, more, more,” said Bill Schwab, vice president of the Wilmington North Neighborhood Assn. “We have got enough of it. (Santa Barbara) just wants a good thing up there. They’re living the good life and we’re bearing the brunt of it.”

Supporters say the new pipeline will reduce oil transport risks, claiming it will cut down on the amount of crude now shipped on tankers from Santa Barbara. They point out that the project has special safety valves that exceed federal safety requirements for guarding against oil spills. A fiber-optic communication system will run along the line to monitor leaks and accidents.

“The main concern we get is, ‘We don’t want it in our back yard,’ ” said J.A. (Joe) Whitelaw, a consultant for the project’s developer, Pacific Pipeline System Inc. “Nobody likes anything they don’t understand in their back yard. But you’re replacing an antiquated method with a state-of-the-art system.”

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The oil companies--led by Chevron, Texaco, Shell and Arco--must find a pipeline route by 1996 to replace the tankers that now carry oil to the refineries. The state Coastal Commission has ordered oil companies to phase out the use of tankers, which have a greater risk of spills and air pollution problems than pipelines.

According to Pacific Pipeline, the proposed line would reduce oil tanker traffic to Los Angeles by 25%. Moreover, in the midst of a tough job market, the $215-million pipeline is expected to provide 400 union-scale jobs to Los Angeles County residents, proponents say. The project will include creation of a job-training center for inner-city youths.

“We’re looking at what we can do to participate in every city we’re going through,” said Norman Rooney, president of Pacific Pipeline.

In Central Los Angeles, the Pacific Pipeline is slated to travel 20 miles along railroad right-of-way property through Cypress Park, East Los Angeles and Watts, and along the borders of Walnut Park and the Southeast cities of Huntington Park, South Gate, Lynwood and Compton.

By the time it reaches the South Bay, the pipeline will have split in two prongs, with one running to the Texaco refinery and GATX terminal in Wilmington and another to the Chevron refinery in El Segundo.

After this week’s hearings throughout the affected regions, the Public Utilities Commission is to decide in July whether the project is environmentally sound. If it gets the go-ahead from the PUC, the proposal must then be approved by each city and county it traverses. With no problems, pipeline construction would begin next spring and end the following year. The state Public Utilities Commission will hold a public hearing on the project at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Carson Community Center, 8 Civic Plaza Drive.

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But trouble may be on the horizon for the pipeline; last month, the Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles Board of Education approved separate resolutions opposing it.

“The lower-income communities have been dumped on for years. Now we’re saying we’ve paid our share and we don’t want any more,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Hernandez, a leading opponent of the project. “The fact that (companies) continue to try and put things here is racist, because they believe the people will offer the least resistance.”

Pipeline proponents argue that there was no racist intent behind the decision to run the project through the Eastside and South Los Angeles. They said the route is the most logical and financially feasible since nearly 80% of it falls along the Southern Pacific Railroad right of way.

Anti-pipeline activists, proponents say, are drumming up unwarranted fears in residents without hearing both sides of the story.

“Sometimes we feel this is being blown out of context. . . . We picked this area because it was least disturbing to the people, not because it’s poor,” Rooney said.

Although he said he understands that safety is an issue to residents, he insists the project poses little danger and claims it is no different than a sewer line, which is more likely to be the source of an explosion because of the amount of natural gas running through it.

An environmental impact report on the Pacific Pipeline, prepared by Aspen Environmental Group of Agoura Hills and funded by the Public Utilities Commission, said construction of the pipeline would not present a major safety hazard. And once buried five feet, oil spills or ruptures would be minimal, the report said.

There is greater risk associated with the existing crude oil pipelines that crisscross the county, according to the report and pipeline proponents. Those pipelines are potentially more hazardous because they are older and longer.

“From a system safety standpoint, we’re the best deal,” said Project Engineer Thomas Rooney, Norman Rooney’s brother. “The longer the pipeline, the greater the risk.”

Some residents, though, fear the worst. They cite incidents such as the pipeline explosion in San Bernardino County in 1989. The blast, triggered by a train derailment, killed six people, injured dozens and destroyed 22 houses in a predominantly minority area.

“There’s almost a wear and tear factor,” said Jo Ann Wysocki, president of the Wilmington Homeowners Assn. “As much as technology tries, nothing is foolproof.”

In January, a pin-sized hole caused a pipeline rupture in Central Los Angeles, and as much as 126 gallons of oil spilled into a storm drain near the Los Angeles River.

“The people in Santa Barbara, they are the ones fearing an offshore oil spill,” said Bill Schwab. “The street should work both ways.”

But Thomas Gwyn, chairman of the Coastal Commission, said endangering the coastline with another refinery when there are existing sites in the Los Angeles Basin makes no sense.

“I’m aware that this is a controversial issue anywhere you put this (pipeline),” Gwyn said. “But the coastline is not growing and the open space of the coastline needs to be preserved.”

Much of the opposition to the project comes from Coalition Against the Pipeline, a 6-year-old group of senior citizens, housewives, community activists and longtime residents that defeated the Angeles Pipeline proposal. That project, proposed in 1987, was slated to run from Kern County to the refineries in Wilmington, traveling down Western Avenue. The proposal, which would have involved burying large portions of the line beneath densely populated streets, was dropped in 1990.

In its latest fight, the coalition has been putting up posters in supermarkets, handing out flyers and holding strategy meetings and rallies. The group said it would file a lawsuit against the pipeline’s sponsors if necessary.

For its part, Pacific Pipeline Systems mailed 12,000 letters explaining the project to those who own property within 300 feet of the pipeline. The company has also spent about $75,000 to hire two public relations firms--Rose & Kindel and Winner/Wagner & Associates--to promote the pipeline to businesses, elected officials and residents.

The lobbying efforts have won allies among union officials and others who stress the importance of creating jobs in a suffering economy. The line will generate about $180,000 in new property tax revenue in the South Bay, according to Pacific Pipeline.

Ron Kennedy, president of the Los Angeles and Orange counties Building Trade Council, said the pipeline will help reduce the 35% unemployment rate among its 6,000 employees.

Some residents point out that the jobs will only be temporary, with construction workers left out of work after it is completed.

“A construction job along that line is very limited,” said Ethel Barnes, a resident of the Hollypark neighborhood in Gardena, where a portion of the line’s El Segundo spur would be buried. “I don’t see how we can benefit.”

Thomas Rooney said that workers will gain experience not found in other construction projects because of the line’s sophisticated design. Rooney and his brother have met with members of the Coalition Against the Pipeline to discuss the project, and have requested meetings with several environmental groups, including the Sierra Club.

They say that in the South Bay, construction of the pipeline will cause little disruption of traffic. At intersections along the rail route, construction workers will burrow holes to avoid tearing up streets.

“If this project doesn’t go through,” Norman Rooney said, “no other (similar) project will.”

Pipeline Hearings

The state Public Utilities Commission has scheduled three public hearings this week on the pipeline project. * DOWNTOWN: 7 p.m. Monday, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, A-level Auditorium, 111 N. Hope St.

* CARSON: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Carson Community Center, 8 Civic Plaza Drive.

* BURBANK: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Burbank City Hall, City Council chambers, 275 E. Olive Ave.

Copies of the Draft Environmental Impact Report can be viewed at the Public Utilities Commission office, 107 S. Broadway, Room 5109; (213) 897-2973. Information: Donna Silvestre, California Public Utilities Commission consumer outreach officer, (310) 412-6349.

PROPOSED PACIFIC PIPELINE BUILDING THE PIPELINE 1.DITCHING: A backhoe will dig a trench seven feet deep and 36 inches wide along the Alameda corridor on the east side of the railroad tracks.

2.SPOIL TRANSFER: Soil dug from the ditch will be loaded into a truck and moved to the far end of the construction site to be used in refilling the trench.

3.LOWERING-IN AND LINE-UP: The pipes, 20 inches in diameter, will be lowered into the trench, lined up end-to-end and clamped together. The pipeline will be five feet deep.

4.WELDING: The steel pipes will be welded together at the joints.

5.X-RAY INSPECTION: Each weld will be X-rayed for flaws.

6.JOINT COATING: The pipeline will be coated with a special material to prevent corrosion.

7.BACKFILLING: The same soil dug up during ditching will be used to refill the trench.

8.BACKFILL COMPACTING: A steamroller will pack the dirt over the trench. The area will then be tarred and paved.

* Cost: $215 million for design and construction Jobs: 600 yearlong union jobs, 400 of which will be filled by residents of Los Angles County. Construction: 14 months, beginning in the spring of 1994 and completed by spring of 1995. Distrubanc from contruction: In the South Bay, the pipeline is not expected to disrupt traffic. Builders of the line plan to burrow beneath all road crossings. Fires: Fires along the pipeline route are considered to be very unlikely because the oil is so viscous it would require being lit by a blowtorch to burn. If fires did occur, they would not present a significant risk to the public. Capacity: 130,000 barrels of crude oil a day, or 10,000 gallons of oil per minute.

* Pollutants: Would generate considerable pollutant emissions during construction, mainly dust and fumes. Proponents have subnitted emissions control measures to reduce amounts of dust and fumes given off by machines.

* Hazards: Pipeline builders project it will have twoo leaks and one rupture over its 20 year operating lifetime.

* Precautions: special valves to reduce the flow of oil and prevent oil from flowing downhill. The valves would also shut down the pipeline immediately if a leak were detected.

* Depth: 5 feet underground Materials: Steel with welded joints Length: 171 miles from gaviota to oil refineries in El Segundo and Wilmington.

* RECENT OIL PIPELINE SPILLS1. Ft. Tejon, April, 1993: 100,00 gallons of crude oil 2. Central Los Angeles, January, 1993: 120 gallons of crude oil 3. Valencia, February, 1991: 75,000 gallons crude oil 4. Granada Hills, June, 1990: 67,000 gallons of oil-tainted water 5. Valencia, July, 1988: 300 gallons crude oil 6. Encino, Sept., 1988: 132,000 gallons of crude oil 7. Sherman Oaks, Sept., 1988: 125,000 gallons of oil-tainted water 8. Lebec, June 1987: 105,000 gallons crude oil 9. Torrance, June, 1986: 6,300 gallons of crude oil 10. Granada Hills, April, 1986: 29,000 of crude oil