Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Hearing on Pipeline Plan Held : Oil: The $150-million project would carry crude 130 miles through the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys.

The first public hearing on plans for a $150-million, 130-mile crude oil pipeline through the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys was held Monday night at Pyramid Lake.

The California Public Utilities Commission and U.S. Forest Service, which have to approve the plans before construction can begin, sponsored the meeting at the Vista Del Lago Visitors Center, the first of four hearings scheduled for points along the proposed pipeline route from Bakersfield to Long Beach.

Representatives from government agencies began by describing the project--a joint venture of Chevron, Texaco and other oil companies--designed to deliver crude oil to refineries in El Segundo and Wilmington.

The oil would first travel from the Point Arguello offshore field near Santa Barbara via an existing pipeline to the Bakersfield area.

If the new pipeline is built, it would provide an alternative to oil tanker traffic along that coast. By law, all tanker travel along that route is to end by Jan. 1, 1996.

Before the meeting, some officials expressed at least limited support for the plans. “We tried to stop the whole thing in the beginning,” said Santa Clarita City Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy. “We wanted it tankered in, but that didn’t turn out to be safer either.”

A handful of residents from Kern and Los Angeles counties who attended the meeting raised concerns about the potential danger caused by a rupture from the 20-inch underground pipe.

“The earthquake danger in this area is extreme,” said Sally Reed, a member of the Sierra Club’s Kern Kaweah chapter. “One of these days we’re going to know that and have oil up and down the Grapevine for months,” she warned.

Pat Saletore, chair of the Santa Clarita Valley chapter of the Sierra Club, said before the meeting that the prospect of a pipeline makes her uneasy, especially in the wake of a spill from a pipe that ruptured in the Jan. 17 earthquake, spilling 190,000 gallons of crude oil into the Santa Clara River. That spill killed about 700 animals and polluted 17 miles of the river.

“It concerns me that (the new pipeline) is going to be crossing the river there,” she said. “Anytime you’ve got something that’s crossing a waterway, you’ve got the potential for real problems. We saw that during the earthquake.”

Modern pipelines use steel and construction techniques that have improved significantly since pipes by other companies were installed decades ago, said Tom Rooney, an engineer for Pacific Pipeline System Inc., a co-sponsor of the project. He said the new pipelines are strong, but flexible, allowing them to withstand the shock of earthquakes and other hazards.

“That’s the very reason for a new one,” he said. “The one that got oil all over the place was built back around 1925.”

The new 130-mile pipeline would generally follow The Golden State Freeway through the Angeles National Forest to Glendale, where it would turn south through Watts before reaching the refineries.

It is the second proposed route for the pipeline. The original route called for an entirely new 171-mile pipeline across Ventura and Los Angeles counties close to State Highway 126, but that plan was abandoned as too costly after the Los Angeles City Council opposed it and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency raised questions.

Construction of the pipeline is expected to take about 10 months and could be completed by the end of 1995 if approved, according to California Public Utilities Commission documents.

Additional meetings to discuss the project are scheduled today at Aragon Elementary School at 1118 Aragon Ave. in Los Angeles, Wednesday at the Wilmington Boys & Girls Club at 1444 West Q St., and Thursday at the San Fernando City Council Chambers, 117 McNeil St. All meetings begin at 7 p.m.