Exxon Drops Plans to Ship Oil Through Channel

Exxon Corp. has withdrawn its application to run oil tankers through the Santa Barbara Channel and plans instead to use an existing overland pipeline to ship crude from its oil fields off the Santa Barbara coast to refineries in Los Angeles.

The announcement was applauded by environmentalists as a victory for the ecologically fragile coastline and Channel Islands.

“This decision will secure long-term protection for the California coast,” said Linda Krop, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Center in Santa Barbara.

Last year, Exxon sought permission to ship as many as 50,000 barrels of crude a day down the coast in single-hulled tankers. Santa Barbara County officials were drafting an environmental impact report on the request when Exxon withdrew the proposal.

Exxon spokesman Les Rogers said the company’s new strategy, using the All America Pipeline, gives it a long-term method of transporting oil pumped from its offshore platforms near a marine tanker terminal at Gaviota in northern Santa Barbara County.

Exxon’s decision to abandon tankers comes a few months after Chevron Corp. won permission to use tankers to move crude from the massive Point Arguello offshore oil fields to refineries near Wilmington.

The California Coastal Commission ruled earlier this year that Chevron could ship oil--about one tanker trip a week--until 1996. After that, crude oil from the area must be moved by pipeline.