City, Pipeline Backers Both Claim Victories

Los Angeles city officials and backers of a proposed pipeline that would bisect the city both claimed courtroom victories Monday in the legal battle over the $170-million project.

Although both sides said they won important rulings, they also acknowledged that the courtroom decisions do not mean an immediate end to the fight over the pipeline.

As proposed, the Pacific Pipeline would pump 130,000 barrels of crude oil daily along a 132-mile route from Kern County through the San Fernando Valley to refineries in Wilmington.

Citing a potential for a pipeline rupture and other environmental hazards, the city has tried to block the project at every turn.

Recently, the city appealed an April 10 decision by the state Public Utilities Commission to certify an environmental study of the project, saying the study did not sufficiently review alternative pipeline routes.

But the city suffered a loss when the California Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the city’s appeal of the Public Utilities Commission’s decision was without merit and unanimously rejected it.

“It is clear from the Supreme Court’s decision that the four-year, multimillion-dollar environmental review process conducted by the PUC exceeds all requirements necessary for construction of the pipeline,” said Jim Shamas, vice president of Pacific Pipeline System.

For its part, the pipeline company had asked a Superior Court last month to give it the authority to use eminent domain powers to immediately start building the line under city streets.

But on Thursday, a Superior Court commissioner rejected that request, ruling instead that a full “legal issues trial” must be held in January to determine whether Pacific Pipeline can use eminent domain authority.

Jack Brown, the assistant city attorney who is overseeing the city’s fight against the pipeline, said the Supreme Court ruling against the city was “disappointing but not unexpected” because courts very rarely overturn a Public Utilities Commission decision.

Still, he said, the city may be able to block the project through a lawsuit it filed in August to challenge the U.S. Forest Service for allowing the pipeline to run through Angeles National Forest.

But Charles McLean, a spokesman for Pacific Pipeline, said the city’s suit against the Forest Service is not as crucial as a final ruling on the eminent domain matter. He said that if Pacific Pipeline wins its eminent domain case, it can begin construction and operation while the Forest Service lawsuit is being fought.