SEAL BEACH : City Rejects Unocal’s Bid to Reopen Plant

Bowing to the protests of residents, the City Council has rejected Unocal’s bid to reopen an oil-water separation plant on Marina Drive.

The unanimous decision came Monday night during a meeting packed with more than 100 residents, nearly all of whom opposed Unocal’s proposal out of fear that the plant would emit pollutants into their neighborhood.

The 30-year-old plant has been closed since 1983, when winter storms destroyed the offshore wells that fed into the facility.

Many residents who have moved into the neighborhood over the past 11 years argued that the plant is no longer compatible with the residential community.

The plant is next to Marina Park and near a preschool and the River Beach condominium complex.

“At one time, Unocal fit in with the community,” said resident Galen Ambrose. “Now we are a bedroom community.”

Other residents said the plant would emit cancer-causing substances as well as fumes that cause nose and eye irritation.

Unocal officials have long denied that the plant poses any health risks.

They said that studies of a similar oil-water separation plant in Huntington Beach found that the air quality outside the facility and inside nearby homes did not change when the plant was operating.

But council members sided with the residents, saying they didn’t want to take the risk of an accident.

“Safety was the No. 1 issue,” said Councilman George Brown. “I thought about the kids playing down there in the park (by the plant). I just didn’t think it was compatible” with the area.

Unocal officials expressed disappointment at the council vote, which reverses an earlier decision by the Planning Commission to allow the plant to begin operations.

“We think this would be a safe plant,” said Unocal spokeswoman Janet McClintock.

The company now hopes to move the oil-water operation to a platform offshore.